CHAPTER EIGHT A WAY FORWARD
3. WHAT SHOULD THE CHURCH'S RESPONSE BE TO THESE CHALLENGES?
intend to revisit them as a lot has been said about them in the previous chapters. But it is worthwhile for the church in South Africa to look at them as it seeks to recreate the position of the poor and the marginalised in our communities.
I would propose that the church in our country take this as critically important in its ministry as it would communicate to the poor and the marginalised that it understands something about the African cultural background. Therefore, this could create an expectancy and hope from the downtrodden that the church could be the answer to their problems and questions.
Another contribution is the resulting chemistry among the poor and marginalised people as they become one united group during the process of unity. The act of finding one another in the midst of poverty and marginalisation is wonderfully awesome and creative. The dehumanized people have found each other and their finding of each other has caused them to form a strong united action. This action of theirs is a good recipe for reconciliation, which is highly needed in our country between blacks and whites and rich or poor, whether they are Christians or not.
These two principles could also have a tremendous contribution in the economic upliftment of the poor and marginalised if they can work together as a co-operative and start together a money making, job creation programme which is sustainable. Programmes like the Sewing Programme and financial assistance (EDECFA) programme are examples. The Sewing Programme referred to here is a small business project started by our church women's group. Women came together and trained other women in sewing. They made dresses and school uniforms and sold these to make a living. This has economically empowered those who were poor and marginalised. Many of them are now economically much better off than before.
The EDECFA, which stands for Edendale Evangelical Church Financial Assistance, is a project which was started by our local church in order to help members payoff their home loans more quickly and cheaply than bank loans. Members ofthe church put money together, a "Stok Vel" kind of project, and the EDECFA pays off the home loans of church members. The members then pay the EDECFA at no interest. Inthis way the members are freed from the economic oppression of the home loan. This empowers the people to stand together and economically liberate themselves.
Such programmes as these would make the poor and marginalised participate in the improvement of the economic status of the country as well as bring a very high degree of contentment to the downtrodden.
Case Study I
The practical example of this is a friend of mine-I will call him Sunshine-who was a street kid who hailed from Johannesburg. He had no skill to make a living for himself or even an identity document to get employment in the unskilled labour market. A group of friends from a church in Pietermaritzburg who were also acquainted with him sat down and talked with him about what he could do to make a living.
They discovered that he had an ability and interest to start and run a business. They then asked him to look for a business training programme that he could participate in. Finally he found it and got his training. Then the group gave him money to start his small business and he was provided with a caravan in which he operated his small tuck shop, which he also used as a home. They also provided a car to pull this mobile tuck shop of his twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. In Boom Street where his mobile tuck shop was, Sunshine was well known. He became one ofthe successful small business people in the city and eventually moved his tuck shop from the caravan to a building.
Programmes similar to this case study can be multiplied in various communities of the poor and marginalised of our country. Mbiti's theological principles of empowerment have opened our eyes to this. Ifthe church or the government or the "haves" (rich people) can help the poor and marginalised with the means to reach this stage that has been reached by Sunshine, then poverty in our country will be eradicated. We would have less crime, and peace and prosperity would be the talk of the day.
Where there is peace and prosperity, crime and violence is discouraged and decreased. Therefore development and empowerment of the downtrodden can be reached with less difficulty. Itcan only be realized through a process of encouragement and enablement.
The principle ofPeace and Prosperity can empower the poor through the programmes ofpeace initiatives like community police forums. This is another programme that can create jobs for poor and marginalised communities. The government or the church can mobilize the very poor who are affected by violence and crime to create community police forums which are income generating, just like security guard firms.
CaseStudy 11
A trainee in our development training programme, whom, I will call Joe, started a community programme on police forum within his community. He did this as a result of the foundational requirements of the programme, as every student has to have a community programme which can be evaluated if the student qualifies to be awarded a diploma from the course. The programme started with five volunteers, including him. After three months, when the community saw that there was a good degree of peace, they asked the local Inkosi to plead with the community to contribute financially towards the payment ofthese young men. That succeeded and they became full time in this community police forum. After a year they were asked by the two neighbouring communities to come and train people in their areas for policing.
This became an employment creation programme. Many people in these three communities are employed in this growing peace making industry. So as it creates peace in the community, it makes prosperity for a few others. The government has also joined in this programme through the local police service which is in that neighbourhood.
This Community Police Forum is a well known programme which was introduced by some of our politicians and was-and in some areas is still-being done by the South African Police Services (SAPS).
For this community police forum to be successful, like this situation of Joe, it needs people who understand that sustainable development needs training and management skills.