Diocese of Cape Town Mothers’ Union outreach to fire victims in response to the Langa Fire Disaster
Background
On 16 April 2022 a fire broke out at Joe Slovo informal settlement in the Langa township Cape Town destroying 305 shacks and families. As the Mothers’ Union guided by MULOA, we listened to the story, observed what was happening in Langa and we acted. Our action was also prompted by:
- The MU objective no 5 -to help those whose family life has met with adversity.
- The Archbishop’s appeal from people to respond to the disaster
How did we go about the initiative?
After attending a session of various stakeholders (church reps, community leaders, NGOs etc) hosted by Archbishop Thabo, we urgently met as Diocesan Council and based on the needs analysis that was done by the committee on the ground, and the contributions that other donors had pledged, we decided on buying blankets as winter had already started in Cape Town.
However, we had already used our Outreach budget earlier in the year to buy stationery for struggling children in our parishes, and therefore had to think creatively how we could fund this initiative. We then agreed to appeal to the mothers and allocated a number of new blankets to be donated per parish.
St Cyprian parish in Langa was one of the drop off sites, and we agreed to do our handover to the disaster committee on the 14th May in the form of a service run by the archdeacon of Ibongolethu, who also blessed the gifts.
How Many blankets
This was a Diocesan initiative, but unfortunately not all the parishes were able to donate and so we were able to buy 100 blankets at an average cost of R300 per blanket. Though the 100 blankets could not cover all 305 households, we were comforted by the fact that another NGO had pledged blankets to cover the remainder of the households.
A very big thank you to all the mothers who willingly responded to the call and therefore demonstrating our faith in action as the Mothers Union.
Especially:
Trainers of Probationers Training Session
Acknowledgements
Diocese of Lesotho, in the Province of Southern Africa, extends the heartfelt gratitude to the Provincial President and entire Provincial Executive, for the support received. Despite the wet and extremely cold winter, our facilitators from the Province the Provincial Trainer – Venerable Nkosazana Maqoma and Provincial CDC – mme Matito Lechoano; exuded highest level of knowledge about the Anglican Church and Mothers’ Union. The level of dedication from the facilitators can only be emphasized. The training workshop was held at Anglican Training Centre in Maseru, from the 20th to 22nd May 2022.
Background and Functioning
Diocese of Lesotho has four (4) Archdeaconries, namely, North, Cathedral, Central and South, with North archdeaconry with more parishes (15 parishes), followed by South Archdeaconry (12 parishes) and Central (10 parishes) while Cathedral has the least number (9 parishes). Membership also varies, where most parishes in the North have large membership; whereby five (5) parishes have membership roll of between eighty (80) and hundred and thirty (130). There had not been any formal training of Probationers, instead, each branch appoints MU member as a trainer of probationers, with no clear selection criteria. Training varies across branches of the same parish. Some branches focus mainly on MU prayer and objectives, while others include a brief history of Mary Sumner. The only similarity is in duration, six (6) months and admission which is scheduled; either in March during Lady Day or August during Mary Sumner Day. In general, there is no uniformity in training of probationers in the Diocese.
Status Quo
The Diocese has experienced a significant drop of membership roll in the past three (3) years; for instance, in 2018/19, there were 3140 members and currently in 2021/2022, there are 2828 members. It was noted with sadness that we lost many members (115 members) in 2020/2021, whereby most deaths were due to covid19, thus, the total membership roll was expected to be 3025 members. The remaining 197 is the relapses, hence, becomes cause for concern; causes for such high number of relapses can only be speculated.
Objectives of the training workshop
Other than establishing uniformity in building quality and sustainable membership, the MU leadership suspected the disparity in training of probationers as main cause for the current high number of relapses.
Training of Trainers of Probationers
Establishment of Diocesan Trainers/Facilitation Team
The team consisted of members of Diocesan Executive and at least six (6) MU members from each Archdeaconry, who were entrusted with training. There is an implementation plan for filtering the acquired knowledge, through to the trainers of probationers at branch level, throughout the Diocese.
“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint”
- ‘M’aseitshiro Khooe – Diocesan President
MU Response to Flood Victims
The visit was facilitated by the Diocesan Bishop following his appeal for compassion to the Diocesan family. The response was amazingly positive both within and beyond the Diocese. Donations of clothing, linen, food and financial contributions really demonstrated the principle of Ubuntu at its best! Different Diocesan presidents contacted me with messages of compassion, assurance of prayers, words of encouragement and lots of love. The Nguni Cluster donated the sum of R25000, the Diocese has set up a task team to spearhead relief measures and compile a report to the Cluster.
The Diocese of Zululand (our neighbours came with a truck full of clothing, linen, toiletries and food stuff), we were deeply touched by their generosity and commitment to serve.
The Bishop mobilized members of the Mothers' Union and the other guilds to join him to receive donations from the Diocese of Zululand team under the leadership of the Diocesan Bishop( the MU Chaplain, president and MU members, Diocesan CDC, leader of the men's guild, youth leader, Masisizane, formed part of the team) and distribute the donations to the people. The local Rector and Archdeacon coordinated the visits to the halls where the homeless flood victims reside. 4 out of 5 places were visited, we prayed together, shared a message of hope and assurance of God's love even in the face of devastation, and distributed the donations.
It was encouraging to see young people involved in uniting people and taking a leadership role as looked after others in all the halls. It broke my heart to see that there was no privacy for males and females as they all shared the open hall. It reaffirmed to me that primary/ basic needs of shelter and food remain a priority over higher order needs of privacy, dignity and psychological needs.
Their appreciation for the visit and donations touched our hearts and reduced most of us to tears.
We also hope that our government and more volunteers will continue to support God's people in need.
