SPIRITUAL BEGINNINGS

AN IMPORTANT STATION ON THE JOURNEY

Bridging the Gap between Informal Settlements and the Church.

A pilot course organised by Diakonia’s Informal Settlement Monitoring Group

Attending this course was a transformational experience on my Spiritual Journey and I want to preserve the memory of it. It was a practical rather than theoretical or academic course, the purpose being to help parishes interested in ministering in informal settlements; to help Christians living in such settlements to build up the church in their own area as well as minister more effectively to their communities.

The course ran on Saturdays from 18/6 to 3/12/1994 with an exposure trip to the Piesang’s River Informal Settlement. I attended as a member of my Parishes’ Justice and Peace Committee.

An article was first published in the Southern Cross (21/8/1994) based on a brief report that I submitted. I reproduce below the article as published – but with slight insertions to clarify details. This report was based on the exposure visit to the Informal Settlement where we contributed to the cost of lunch being provided. The organisers had arranged for a bus to transport us to Piesang’s River some 50 kms from the centre of Durban.

THE SOUTHERN CROSS ARTICLE:
Informal Settlements course changes Christians’ outlook
DURBAN – The first session of a June 18 pilot course on informal settlements has changed the outlook of those who attended.

The course was the product of a group of interdenominational lay people and ministers of religion. This group joined forces some years ago to bridge the gap between the Church and the informal settlements and to help overcome misconceptions about squatters.

Participants from various churches, ministers and deacons, were taken to the Piesang River Settlement to experience life in an informal settlement.

There they were given a demonstration of brick and block making. This project is part of the resident minister’s upliftment programme. Bricks are mostly used to build the church and community centre, although some are also sold.

In small groups, participants visited a shack dweller, Eunice Ndaba, who answered questions in her tiny dwelling. Answers were interpreted from Zulu by a Methodist Minister from Umlazi, Simphiwe Mdolo.

According to one participant, Rosemary Gravenor, that hour was a “humbling experience.” She said all identified the many needs in the settlement, including a need for crèche, schools, clinics, water, fuel, refuse removal and toys.

“We also tried to verbalise what we as the Church could do to meet needs,” she added. Suggestions included skills training, self-help projects and making people more aware of needs.

Earlier during the day, Professor S Bekker had given participants a background to informal settlements in the Greater Durban Area.

He noted that people in these settlements were those who ad adapted to survive under the apartheid system.

Participants were told to focus on the manner in which people had been forced to live and not the people themselves, who “are no different to those more fortunate who live in formal settlements.”

Professor Bekker noted that the permanence of people in the various settlements also differed. The Mariannhill settlement, for instance, developed as a permanent settlement as it was able to resist the defunct Group Areas Act and also because it is close to Pinetown, an area with work opportunities. Inanda settlement, however, experienced 50% turnover of families each year, due to employment further afield, conflict within the community, violence and family ties.

He said it was difficult to build community spirit in an impermanent community, but semi-permanent settlements usually have highly organised voluntary government associations.

Within all informal settlements, voluntary associates were formed to decide on behalf of the community, he said.

The S A Catholic Magazine Trefoil also printed an article.

Piesang River settlement is beyond Ntuzuma. It is situated on the slope of a hill, the lowest point being the stream where the residents obtained water. There were no formal roads and considerable erosion contributed to the dirt tracks being even more hazardous.

The experience was not only momentous, it changed my perception about poverty and it opened my eyes to the hidden evils of the policy of apartheid.

Professor Bekker’s briefing** earlier that morning on the difference between ‘squatters’ and informal settlements, showed that the latter had been allocated land – usually an unwanted, poorly fertile tract, but well out of sight of any main road. The only facilities provided were promises and enough cement to lay a concrete slab on which settlers erected a dwelling at their own expense.

The location and history of any settlement were factors which influenced their permanence and stability. The more stable the community, the more effectively it was managed by the community. Voluntary formal committees managed the community and supervised the in-migration of new families.

On the bus ride to Piesang River settlement, we took a road which is marked to go to Ntzuma. I was dumbfounded at the number of houses – all situated close to one another with very little land in between. Miles and miles of houses – shacks or imijondolo as they are known locally – as far as the eye could see. How could anyone know how many people were housed in this Greater Durban Area?

On arrival we made our way to the community centre. This was the local minister’s work-in-progress and for which the block making machine had been acquired. It was only a shell, no doors or windows were fitted and the roof was a large tarpaulin!

The members of the Civic were all present to welcome us. They were mostly women, the elders of the community. We were assured that we were safe and would always be welcome – as long as the Civic were approached beforehand. They informed us that even during the worst times of unrest and violence in KwaZulu Natal, they had remained a peaceful and caring community. If any family or person did not conform to the principles by which the community lived, they were asked to go (and, if necessary, were forcibly removed). Because there was communication and consensus within the community these principles were guarded and protected for the common good.

We went into small groups so that it would be more manageable for a visit to any one of the resident’s homes. This had been agreed by the residents beforehand. The group I was part of wound its way to the house of Eunice Ndaba. She answered our questions quite freely telling us how long she had been there, that she was a Methodist and many other personal details. One of the most memorable answers was an explanation of how they helped one another – especially the immediate neighbours, in times of illness and unemployment. No one ever went hungry or without someone to take care of a child. The saddest thing we noted was that there was a shebeen (drinking place) and we were told that the young men of the community mostly had the greatest difficulty with trying to make the best of a very poor situation.
Afterwards we came together again in the community centre to share our many different experiences. This whole hands-on exercise broadened our horizons and left indelible impressions – the spirit of honesty, hope and discipline shone on the faces of all, including the much loved little ones.

It not only altered perceptions around poverty and cultural differences, but radically changed how I thought of Christianity. I had found Jesus Christ alive and well in a place that our Western culture would never call sacred: amongst the poor, the weak, the disadvantaged and marginalised!

And that was at the beginning of a course which was spread out over six sessions.

I have scanned into a computer file on Informal Settlements, the summarised reports given by three independent witnesses to Informal Settlements (both the organisers report obtained from the individual and my own): Anne Voce, Sizakele Mkhize and Alice Ngema. I have done the same with other details from these sessions by scanning the report I did for my [then] Parish Council at St. Joseph’s Morningside. This report had several highlights: one being an informal unplanned meeting with two political leaders on a visit to Malukazi near Isipingo. We were able to question both the Inkatha and ANC representatives. Later we visited one of the Independent African Church meetings which was, to say the least, a profound culture shock. It did leave me with the impression that African people are warm and welcoming, thrilled to have outsiders visit, dance and pray with them.

Yes, these are memories I never want to lose.
What follows is my background to this profound experience - written long ago - which may throw a light on my obvious search for Jesus Christ in my life.

WHAT’S MISSING?

For many years I kept returning to the question in my mind: ‘something is wrong, something is missing’. I found the answer only when I stopped looking for it from others.

As a cradle Catholic, I went to Church as a matter of rote until I came to terms with the fact that my marital relationship with the father of my children was far from ideal. Because I was deeply unhappy I turned to God and church became more meaningful as a source of strength and comfort. I endured because I did not believe then in divorce. My ultimate conclusion, however, after several years of seeking a solution was that I did not have a marriage. It was then relatively easy to see no sense in clinging to something which was non-existent.

After divorcing [1985], my question still persisted and I was encouraged by my Parish Priest to seek out others in a similar situation: divorced, single parent women. I also believe that being encouraged to go through the process of annulment – not for the yeah or the nay of it – turned towards soul-searching, looking inwards and examining self, the beginnings of a spiritual journey. I was hardly aware of this at the time.

The question still remained, despite new beginnings and new friends. I started avidly reading spiritual self-help books.

At the end of 1989 after returning from my first visit to Europe, I realised that I was mildly but chronically depressed. Another Priest recommended a psychologist and therapy was ongoing on a regular basis for many years. At the same time, I became even more active in my Parish community. I was involved with the initial core group in the movement within the church called Renew. There was great satisfaction in this just as I had begun to experience with the Single Parents Group which primarily affected my social life. Renew showed that when committed to faith sharing, an overall upliftment took place concurrently with the depth of bonding, a experience of solidarity with others in a outreach movement grounded in prayer. I gained on all fronts a tremendously.

Still, I joined a Bible Study Group which was also known to consist of practitioners of the Charismatic movement.

The original question had simply shifted from personal relationships to community. I was still seeking an answer.

I attended a Life in the Spirit Seminar. The insistent question remained and I still wondered what was wrong with my belief, my religion, with Catholicism, with most other Christians? What is missing?

By 1993, I was involved with the Justice and Peace group in the Parish, apart from the original commitment to a Renew prayer group. The J & P group was facilitated by a very close friend who was one of those rare people, difficult to resist any request calling for a commitment. I also represented J & P on the Parish Council.

It was during late 1993 or early 1994 that I heard – via our outside connections to J & P – that Diakonia was planning a Workshop on Ministry in Informal Settlements. I signed up together with another member of J & P. I was markedly disappointed when the course was postponed till after the elections!

When the course commenced in June 1994, I attended and have written elsewhere on my experience, especially the exposure to an Informal Settlement. Suffice to say here that I think I know what has been missing: I have been looking for Jesus in the wrong places! Jesus is simply where he always was when he walked the earth: with the poor, the homeless, the marginalised, the sick, the weak, the voiceless. It is so simple yet ironical but still so difficult for our materialistic first world 20th century society to grasp. I no longer have a stomach that can bear having to listen to privileged people generalising about ‘them’; nor for those who have no faith, either in themselves, their communities, and the present leaders of our country!

I have loved Jesus actively most of my life but it took half a century for me to realise that I have loved him only with my heart and that I need to love him as much with my mind; with a total commitment of my will. It is easy to love the Jesus of the Gospel with our hearts but it is hard to make a commitment to walk with him amongst the filthy dirty conditions we have condemned the poor to live in. I am sure that He wants us to walk with Him as community. He chose twelve as his “ideal” nucleus community, we must need far more that twelve and that leads me to my next reflection on CHURCH as community.

1995

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THE CHURCH : A BRIDGE BETWEEN GOD AND PEOPLE?

Why does the Church exist?

To bring the message of Christ to all people and to build the kingdom of God. This is its supreme and destined task. It is therefore not an end but a means. It was not the Church which “God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son” but the WORLD.
Someone said “The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning”. What is our mission?

Christ chose the Cross so that the Cross could work for his supreme end – the building of God’s Kingdom in the world through us; through our hearts. OUR ONLY AIM is to reach out to ALL people.

The success or failure of the Church is not to be determined by the state of its buildings, or the size of its membership, but solely by what it is doing to reach the poor, the untouched, the marginalised… The maintenance of our church is obviously necessary but when this becomes an end in itself, it ceases to be a true Church.

Our Church on the weekend is full of people, faithful in attendance and service who are obviously far from the Spirit of Christ because all they have heard are words. They just go to Church, and do Church work. You know them, looking mostly stiff lipped and unhappy, and beetling off home as fast as they can go.

Where is the cross and repentance, where is the blazing light of the risen Christ, where is the message of conversion, commitment and new life. It has been said that Christianity has truly been called a religion of sense, that one cannot live in the presence of the risen Lord, and of his fiery Holy Spirit without a continuous graceful excitement burning in our souls. So where are lives being turned around? Why don’t we get excited, why are we not inspired; why don’t we find exactly what is needed to live as Christians each day? Someone also said religion was either a dull habit or an acute fever!

We are proud of our historically authentic ancestry; we are exposed to sound theology from ethically wise priests and are part of an organisationally well-run institution, but what is being said, what is being preached from the heart and centre of the Gospel? If it is, why are we not listening?

Why is our organised Catholic Church so reluctant to look for its answer in “no-go” places, at the place where the Holy Spirit is working with non ideal (imperfect) human beings and producing communities that live, really try and live Christianity?
I know, we know, the Holy Spirit is at work. Why do we lack the courage to listen, to seek… The Holy Spirit is strangely democratic and works in situations not quite approved of by some people. There are movements today, as in other times, where the Holy Spirit is at work. They are arms of the Church and work with Church just as far as the Church will let them.

We get all fired up when we have a parish mission – why do we lose the momentum. If we look at the history of conversion, turning our lives around; being awakened, has never come from “ecclesiastics getting together to ‘do something’ but from inspired nobodies whom the Church at first ignored, perhaps even condemned and then (when the following was powerful enough) took over and finally ‘domesticated’.

When faced with a challenge, we either try to meet it or we turn away from it (even then perhaps determine to fight that which presented the challenge)!
What is blocking our way forward?

Is it because we think the great organisation is everything, the small organism is of no importance? Is it also because if we did investigate and join with the Holy Spirit, we would have to change our lives radically and we draw back in craven fear?
It is not the strength of the Communists, the devil, the masses or of any real or imagined enemy that holds us back – it is our own weakness. Those who believe there is nothing more to learn, no need to move out of our own parish/community, they are their own worst enemies. We lead lives that are a sad mockery of apostolic, spirit-filled, life-transforming Christianity.

The Churches of Europe are mostly empty because all they offer is a shopworn, dull, lustreless religion. The clergy and laymen are devoted to the inadequate ways of organisational religion. These men and women are not only ‘conservative’ about faith, which is right, they are ‘conservative’ about their own growth and willingness to change and learn, which is wrong.

I HAVE ALSO EXPERIENCE SPIRITUAL INEPTITUDE AND INEFFECTIVENESS;
I HAVE ALSO FELT HUMBLED BY THE COMMUNITY SPIRIT AND COURAGE DISPLAYED BY THE MARGINALISED.

I will go so far as to say we sin because there are people who can at least give us a glimpse of a much better way, a glimpse of what real awakening might be at a personal and community-wide level – and we turn away!

We live in a fast world. Everywhere is great scientific achievement. There is fear in every sensitive heart as well as lack of trust in our leaders, our fellow beings. There is loss of regard for other persons (particularly for people considered inferior) and easy dismissal of the spiritual as irrelevant or even non-existent. There is vague, intense bitterness, gnawing loneliness, rebellion – besides the fact that “most people live lives of quiet desperation”. The world needs a new language, a language that it will heed again, which will have to come with a freshness, stimulus and shining sparkle.

We know something is wrong: what, then, shall we do?

We look for security in large bank accounts and material things, yet we know that we cannot serve two master. Christ asks that we submit our choices, our very lives to Him. He does not try to stop us doing anything we choose but that we submit the choice to Him for guidance as to what is right and what is wrong.

We admit our failures as Christians but at the same time thank God for what good comes from our actions in spite of our choices. We should get down and pray, for forgiveness and reconciliation. We go and pray where the Holy Spirit leads, with those who are the poorest of the poor but rich in Spirit. We learn from them, we come to know Jesus firsthand and experience transformation. We will know we are going in the right direction because we will go – again and again – to gain strength, that essential quality acquired only in fellowship with spirit-filled people.

I am only looking at the privileged, financially secure churches in the ‘suburbs’ that I am familiar with. We have plenty of money to buy, but we are afraid to pay the price for real community!