Assembly Objective:

• Since we all look so different, why do we all feel pressured to conform to one narrow view of beauty? The Bible teaches us to focus our attention on the deep beauty of the way in which we treat others, rather than the superficial ‘beauty’ of how we look.

Film:

• Khumba (Kaleidoscope, 2014, certificate U) Click here to buy the DVD online.

Bible:

• Genesis 1:26-27, 31 (Contemporary English Version)
• 1 Samuel 16:7 (Contemporary English Version)

Supporting Values Education:

• The values of Respect and Tolerance derive from an underlying belief that everyone is valuable, whoever they are and whatever they look like. This assembly enables pupils to explore how we can show respect by focusing how we treat people.

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OPENING ACTIVITY

Behind the name (discussion)

• Is there a story behind your name? Ask the children whether they know what their name means, or the reason their parents chose their name.
• Explain that in this assembly, we will learn about a zebra that was named ‘skin’. Ask if they can guess why his mother chose that name.

Amazing animals (quiz)

• Split the group into two teams and see who can guess first the names for the following groups of animals. Award a prize to the winning team.
• A group of lions is called a pride.
• A group of elephants is called a herd.
• A group of giraffes is called a tower.
• A group of ants is called a colony.
• A group of fish is called a school.
• A group of wolves is called a pack.
• A group of caterpillars is called an army.
• A group of geese is called a gaggle.
• A group of birds is called a flock.
• A group of zebras can be called a zeal, a harem or a dazzle.

Better or boring (illustration)

• Use magazine clippings or internet images to demonstrate some of the images our culture associates with beauty.
• You could show some of the more extreme examples of high fashion, or talk about the fact that not all people can look like a particular celebrity [insert a male and a female example] and that if we all looked like them, then we’d all look boring, not better.

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FILM CLIP

• Khumba (Kaleidoscope, 2014, certificate U). Click here to buy the DVD online.
  • Start time: 00:13:46 (beginning of chapter 3 of the DVD)
  • End time: 00:15:33
  • Clip length: 1 minute and 47 seconds
• The clip begins when Khumba’s mother wakes up and says, ‘Khumba’. He replies, ‘For you, Mama.’ The clip finishes after she says, ‘No, Khumba. Don’t you see? They all looked the same’ and lies down.
• If you are unable to play the clip, say:
  • ‘Khumba’s Mama is sick. Khumba brings her some food, but he is grumpy about looking different from his family. ‘Do you know why I named you Khumba? She asks. ‘Khumba means “skin”.’ Mama tells him a story. The first zebras had exactly the same skin, with no stripes. One day, a zebra found a magical waterhole. He swam in it and when he came out, his skin was striped. All the other zebras liked his stripes, and he was proud to be different. But now the other zebras wanted to be just like him, so they swam in the waterhole and became striped too. Khumba runs off, excited at the thought of finding a waterhole that could give him more stripes. He doesn’t listen to the last part of the story: “They all looked the same,” says Mama sadly.’

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TALK

Download the Khumba Assembly PowerPoint for use with this talk.

Scripted Talk

• [PowerPoint slide 1]
  • What is beautiful? If you had to draw beauty, what would it look like? The internet, television and magazines often try to tell us what is beautiful and what isn’t. If you want to be beautiful, they say, then you must all look like this. Sometimes, they can make us feel bad about the way we look. Sometimes, they can make us treat others badly because of the way they look.
  • But, do the rich, famous and fashionable really have the right to decide what beauty is? Should we really be struggling to all look the same?
• [PowerPoint slide 2]
  • We’re going to watch a clip about a very special zebra named Khumba. This zebra doesn’t look like his friends, or even like his family. He only has stripes over half of his body – the other half is blank. But, Khumba doesn’t feel special. He hates being different. Khumba listens to the bullies who say that he is only half a zebra. Let’s find out how he would feel if he listened to his mother. What does she have to say about the zebra she brought into the world?
    • Play the clip from Khumba:
    • Start time: 00:13:46 (beginning of chapter 3 of the DVD)
    • End time: 00:15:33
    • Clip length: 1 minute and 47 seconds
    • The clip begins when Khumba’s mother wakes up and says, ‘Khumba’. He replies, ‘For you, Mama.’ The clip finishes after she says, ‘No, Khumba. Don’t you see? They all looked the same’ and lies down.
    • If you are unable to play the clip, say:
      • ‘Khumba’s Mama is sick. Khumba brings her some food, but he is grumpy about looking different from his family. ‘Do you know why I named you Khumba? She asks. ‘Khumba means “skin”.’ Mama tells him a story. The first zebras had exactly the same skin, with no stripes. One day, a zebra found a magical waterhole. He swam in it and when he came out, his skin was striped. All the other zebras liked his stripes, and he was proud to be different. But now the other zebras wanted to be just like him, so they swam in the waterhole and became striped too. Khumba runs off, excited at the thought of finding a waterhole that could give him more stripes. He doesn’t listen to the last part of the story: “They all looked the same,” says Mama sadly.’
• [PowerPoint slide 3]
  • How do you think Mama feels about Khumba? [Take suggestions – she loves him, she’s proud of him.] Do you think she wants him to change his skin, so that he looks like all the other zebras? [Take suggestions – no.]
  • Khumba is worried about being different. He wants his skin to be striped, just like his friends. He just wants to blend in. But, his mother is trying to tell him that it is good to be unique. Unique means special. Our differences make us special. If everyone looked the same, then nobody would be special!
• [PowerPoint slide 4]
  • Christians believe that God made everyone. He chose to make each one of us look different – even identical twins have unique fingerprints. No two people are completely the same. He did this on purpose – not to make us worried about not fitting in, but to make us feel special. If anyone has the right to tell us what is beautiful, it is the one who made everything in the first place! Let’s see how God felt about people after he made us.
• [PowerPoint slide 5]
  • ‘God said, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures.”
  • So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women…
  • God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good!’ (Genesis 1:26-27, 31)
  • What did God think of what he had made? [Take suggestions – it was very good!] Did he think that all of it was very good, or just some of it? [Take suggestions – all of it.] God made us to be like himself – isn’t that amazing?! In our own unique way, we are like God.
• [PowerPoint slide 6]
  • It’s easy to focus on the things we feel we are missing – that extra bit of height, those cute freckles, that perfect hairstyle. We think, if only I had the same colour hair or skin or eyes as them, then I’d be beautiful. But, God looks at us and thinks he did a very good job of making us. He looks at you and thinks you are beautiful – just as you are.
• [PowerPoint slide 7]
  • Khumba’s mother isn’t at all worried about Khumba’s skin. She is actually more concerned about the way he is on the inside – the way he feels, thinks and acts. She is pleased to see that he is kind to her, like his father. The Bible says that God cares more about what we are like on the inside too. God says,
  • ‘People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.’ (1 Samuel 16:7)
  • Let’s stop judging people by what they look like. We all look different. We are all beautiful in a unique way. Instead of trying to look like everyone else on the outside, let’s focus on how beautiful we are on the inside – how kind, brave and loving we are.

Headings and Bullets

• [PowerPoint slide 1]
  • What is beautiful?
  • The internet, television and magazines try to tell us what is beautiful and what isn’t.
  • Sometimes, they can make us feel bad or treat others badly, just because of the way we look.
  • Do the rich, famous and fashionable have the right to decide what beauty is? Should we be struggling to all look the same?
• [PowerPoint slide 2]
  • Introduce Khumba as a special zebra who doesn’t like being different.
  • He only has stripes over half of his body.
  • Khumba listens to the bullies who say that he is only half a zebra.
  • What does his mother have to say about the zebra she brought into the world?
• Play the film clip from Khumba.
• [PowerPoint slide 3]
  • How do you think Mama feels about Khumba?
  • Do you think she wants him to change his skin, so that he looks like all the other zebras?
  • Khumba just wants to blend in.
  • But, his mother believes that it is good to be unique.
  • Our differences make us special. If everyone looked the same, then nobody would be special!
• [PowerPoint slide 4]
  • Christians believe that God made everyone, and he made us look different.
  • Even identical twins have unique fingerprints.
  • He did this to make us feel special.
  • Let’s see how God felt about people after he made us.
• [PowerPoint slide 5]
  • ‘God said, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures.”’
  • So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women…
  • God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good!’ (Genesis 1:26-27, 31)
  • What did God think of what he had made?
  • Did he think that all of it was very good, or just some of it?
  • God made us to be like himself. In our own unique way, we are like God.
• [PowerPoint slide 6]
  • It’s easy to focus on the things we feel we are missing.
  • We think, if only I had the same colour hair or skin or eyes as them.
  • But, God looks at you and thinks you are beautiful – just as you are.
• [PowerPoint slide 7]
  • Khumba’s mother isn’t worried about Khumba’s skin.
  • She is actually more concerned about the way he is on the inside.
  • She is pleased to see that he is kind.
  • The Bible says that God cares more about what we are like on the inside too.
  • ‘People judge others by what they look like, but [God] judge[s] people by what is in their hearts.’ (1 Samuel 16:7)
  • Let’s stop judging people by what they look like.
  • We are all beautiful in a unique way.
  • Instead of trying to look like everyone else on the outside, let’s focus on how beautiful we are on the inside.

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RESPOND

Prayer

• I’m going to read a prayer from the Bible (Psalm 139:13-14), about how God has made us wonderfully. If you agree with the words, then you can make the prayer your own by saying ‘Amen’ at the end – either out loud or in your head.
• ‘[God,] You are the one who put me together inside my mother’s body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me.’ Amen.

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YOU WILL NEED:

1. Khumba (Kaleidoscope, 2014, certificate U). Click here to buy the DVD online.
2. Khumba Assembly PowerPoint.
3. (Optional) A prize for the Amazing animals opening activity.
4. Magazine clippings or internet images associated with beauty for the Better or boring opening activity.