VYG meets the family

Here it was, the long awaited day. The auditorium was quickly filling and the crowd was buzzing with excitement. Over 1100 youths turned up and the cast were anxiously waiting for the curtains to open. The musical was about to begin.

Meet the family - a real depiction of one youngster’s family life - was more than familiar territory to the number of young people sitting in the audience.

As it began, the musical portrayed the most common problems young people go through today, which are family feuds, along with self-harm, drug abuse, depression, low esteem and anger.

Not long into the play, you could already hear occasional laughs here and there and gasps as the story gripped the attention of the audience. Towards the end however, the audience seemed perplexed when the story cleverly left them hanging. They realised that it was up to them to find out that how the story would end, not only in the musical but also in their own lives.

Families fight, they argue and they get under each other’s skin, but that’s normal right? It happens to most of us right? So what happens when a daughter pushes her mum down the stairs and gives her head injuries because she had done the same to her? What happens when a brother stabs his sibling over a t-shirt and a son is left with scars from a severe beating by his own father? Is that normal? No it's not!

Youth Group members Yvette, Dominic and Armel had all faced family problems. They came to the VYG where they found not only support but they also learned how to change their family.

Pastor Luke ended the event with a message and a prayer to help the youths forgive the family members who had hurt them in the past and advised them to leave holding on to what they had learned.

Released on Friday 6th June 2008