'Soul in the City' - Durban July 2009

Mission - Durban July 2009

After two years of fundraising and saving, seven of us finally made it to Durban to spend two weeks working on the SOUL ACTION mission project. In total 353 young people from the UK, Holland, USA, Germany and South Africa took part.

We stayed in apartments in the city centre and after an early prayer meeting we travelled by bus to various locations around Durban. Our project was called Lungisani Indlela which means ‘Prepare the Way’. We were based at Amaoti Community Church (ACC). Amaoti is a very poor community on the northern outskirts of Durban where 80,000 people live in shacks. As we approached Amaoti we passed a sign saying ‘WARNING – HIGHJACKERS AND ROBBERS OPERATE BEYOND THIS POINT’. Many of the children are orphans, HIV/AIDS is prevalent and there are a large number of child headed households. ACC are partnered with the Church of the Good Shepherd (COGS) which is a white majority church in an affluent area of Durban and the two churches work together to provide crèches, education, food, family support, a teenage empowerment programme, counselling, a sewing project, and a home for abandoned babies.

What we did

We started our project work by painting a school (Amaoti No. 1) and finished by painting another (Amaoti No. 3). In between this we helped to run a holiday club which was attended by between 600 – 1000 children aged 0 – 18. The day began with a worship session in a huge tent followed by activities.

Leanne, Debbie and Lewis did craft activities, Ollie did football, Rachel taught dance (and learnt some from the children!), Nathan worked on the Teenage Empowerment Project and Leah was in the crèche. All the children were then given lunch and after tidying up we met for another worship session.

Worshiping God

In the evenings we had worship sessions which were sometimes held at a local Vineyard Church, we also attended a city wide celebration with all the churches that were involved in the mission. We were all overwhelmed by the passion for God we saw in very difficult situations and the vibrant worship we experienced.

A big Thankyou!

We are all so greatful for everyone who has supported us prayerfully and financially. This experience has changed our lives and we are grateful for the opportunity to show God’s love to so many other young people.