The Mission and Social Concerns Group was formed in 1999/2000 to discuss topics of social concern such as world poverty, asylum seekers, world trade etc. and also the Mission of the Church in General.

Thanks to everyone who helped to welcome them, especially the Brownies for their superb efforts when our guests arrived in the church hall.
Joy Totney
Next visit to Colbitz September 20th to 24th 2012

Visit to Helderberg Street Peoples’ Project near
Cape Town ,South Africa
By Joy Baylis
This is the 4th year we have supported the Helderberg Street People’s Project during Lent.On March4th 2011 I spent about 4 hours in Sir Lowry Pass & Somerset West with Ian Greer who is the chairman of a committee that involves representatives from 7 churches who administer the charity and pledge money to support it.

Somerset West is a small town within commuting distance of Cape Town, about 45mins by road but first I was taken to Sir Lowry Pass which is about 5 miles away from the town in a pleasant rural area surrounded by mountains one of which is the Helderberg mountain. The main industry is wine making. The camp at the pass was moved there about 10 years ago from the area now known as Sun City, which is the equivalent of Las Vegas in America, About 12,000 people live in the camp most of them under the age of 35yrs.

Over the last 4 years the project has renovated an abandoned railway station (which they had to buy) so this is the hub of all that the Project does in this area.
Before the purchase of the station Joyce the lady in the photo started caring for about 150 people in the camp by producing bread in her own kitchen and distributing it on a wheelbarrow. She now has a bakery in the building, making bread, muffins and biscuits and she is training others.
There are also showers (many people have never had a shower before) and a laundrette.

We went into the waiting room area and there were about 120 men, women with a few babies sitting there waiting as they had been from about 6am (it was now 9.15am) for the food to be distributed at 10am.They are given a cup of tea and a biscuit when they arrive, they don’t need to arrive so early but they are worried that the food will run out ~ it doesn’t. Ian told me that there were not so many there as usual because some men would have casual work grape picking. Men wait by the roadside waiting to be hired on a day-to-day basis. Ian introduced me to the people there and explained that I was representing St Thomas’s and how grateful they were for the money we had sent them. The clapped and then to show there appreciation they sang a hymn .


Every month they spend £300 on food to feed unto 250 people a day ~ (not very much when you think about it) the people are given soup, white bread, sandwiches.
Bread, fruit and soup, are put into bags and distributed to the 80 people who are housebound.
There is clothing store, stocked up for the winter when it is cold and wet.
Two children were playing in the waiting room ,they will go to school when they are 7 and school is compulsory until they are 15, but everything from pencils to uniform have to be paid for and the project does help out.(but at secondary many ‘drop out’.) At Primary level the children are given a free lunch but not at secondary. ~ So some children may go all day without food. The project now produces 200 sandwiches a day (peanut butter or jam) for the children to take to school.
AIDS is a major problem within South Africa and there is a clinic which is available on 3 days a week with 2 doctors one specializes in TB and AIDS. They prescribe the ARV pills but they had to collect them from the hospital. No public transport and so luckily a generous donor gave them the money for a people carrier, which acts as a shuttle bus. Counselling is given to 50~60 adults with AIDS each week where checks are made to make sure they take the tablets, some will not bother and some are sold to buy drugs. The government now has also highlighted the importance of getting tested for the AIDS virus.
Counselling is provided for children whose parents will die from AIDS followed by bereavements counselling when they die.
Joyce has grown up children but has recently taken in a 3rd child who was orphaned because the parents had died of AIDS.
Teaching skills so that they can earn money is a priority. Chris is in charge of the woodwork team making Wendy Houses (which are large sheds) that they are hoping to sell commercially. Chris is one of the successes ~ he was a drug addict and he came to Ian to ask for his help to get off the drugs. Ian referred him to a Christian Rehab centre, he is now clean and he runs a support group every nigh at 6pm for drug addicts and if they do not turn up he goes and finds them. They have about 45% success rate with those going to rehab.
The ladies are also learning how to sew, and again they are hoping to make articles to sell.
I then went with Joyce’s daughter for a walk into the camp where each shack houses 4+ people , there is electricity but water is collected from a standpipe and there are communal toilets. which with no street lighting must be scary at night, when they could be mugged or killed.

The camp is very dry and dusty on a hot sunny day but in winter it is swimming in water. I met Ian at a new house (again it was like a big shed) of a tiny lady who had a daughter who was there but looked very ill. The house has two bedrooms, just a bed in each, and in the kitchen area two electric rings and a couple chairs. ~ But to this lady with a big smile it was a palace. She had told Ian that her prayers had been answered. A very moving experience for me.
One of the difficulties Ian and his helpers have is that the Africans find it difficult to take responsibility for themselves, and have no sense of urgency or time and show no initiative. He took some phone calls and I noticed he gave them all the same time to see him ~ why? in the hope that at least one of them will turn up at the appointed time.

The project started at Somerset West about 10 years ago when the churches decided to provide a soup kitchen for some of the 400 people who sleep rough on the street each night. A man and a woman were at the gate when we arrived asking for clothes but we found out that they were selling the clothes to fund their drug habit. The young man who manages the centre was himself homeless 9 years ago but with the support of Ian and his colleagues he is now has a full time job.
Every day one of the 7 churches provides volunteers to distribute the soup, bread and sandwiches . More sandwiches are prepared for the men waiting at the road side for work, In total about 900 sandwiches are prepared every day.
Food is distributed at 12noon. A prayer is said first. Not so many waiting as usual as the men will have been hired for the day or sleeping off the excesses of alcohol which is cheap to buy but many make their own.
Patrick ~ lives in Sir Lowry Pass (and has to walk to Somerset West) to talk to Ian about college. His mum wanted him to be a lawyer, unfortunately, she has died but Ian says the lad is bright and shoud be given the support so he is sponsoring his education.

Much of what I saw was quite sad but through it were shafts of light shown by the love and care of inspirational people like Joyce, who cannot read or write, but gives so much for her fellow human beings, and to Ian and his friends who donate so much of their time to making the project work.
I felt very humbled by what I saw and grateful for what I have~ and by donating we are making a difference to the lives of these people and every penny we donate will go directly to them and used immediately,

The name of the hymn that was sung to me in the waiting room.
It was ’Jesus is Alive’ and believe me he is.

To see photos and read about the work of the Helderberg Street People's Project please go to their website www.helderbergstreetpeople.co.za

Dudley Council passed the following resolution on Monday July 16th 2007 : members of all parties supported the Motion.
 
"That Dudley MBC supports the principle of Fairtrade and the Fairtrade Foundation.

The Council welcomes the work of supporters of the Fairtrade Foundation within the Metropolitan Borough and supports the efforts of all townships within the Borough in their quest for Fairtrade Town Status.  The Council agrees to continue to offer Fairtrade tea and coffee at its meetings and in the offices."

The Fairtrade Group is celebrating and giving thanks. It means that the first of the 5 Goals for Fairtrade Town status has been met and now we work on increasing the number of retail and catering outlets in Stourbridge who stock and sell at least 2 Fairtrade items.

STOURBRIDGE ACHIEVED FAIRTRADE TOWN
STATUS IN SEPTEMBER 2010