Welcome to the Soul Action blog! This is where you get to hear some of our thoughts, experiences and find out what we've got planned. It's kind of like a latest news page... but just more fun.
For the next couple of months the blog is being taken over by the lovely Bowyer family. Phil, Rachel and young Zac are out in Durban, South Africa under the banner of Soul Action identifying projects, working with churches and just generally being Soul Action in South Africa. We thought you'd find some of their experiences and reflections pretty interesting! So read on...
The Bowyer Blog!
Entry four:
Posted: 1 May 2008
Networking...
In April we invited all the Christian projects and people we’ve visited, who are serving the poor and marginalized, to come together for our first Soul Action Network day. The aim was to build unity, to allow people to share their experiences and to pray for one another.
The day was attended by 35 people, representing 27 projects from all over Durban. We started by looking at what the Bible says about working together, Phil spoke about what it means to be living stones (1 Peter 2:4-6), that we are all unique as people and projects, and each has a purpose. We each wrote our name and the project we represented on a stone and then placed it on a map of Durban.
Phil then explained how there are things we can do together that we cannot do alone, when we come together in unity we are stronger, we can support one another, and are better equipped to build something ‘better’ for Durban, something which ‘declares the praises’ of God. Phil explained how this might mean each of us being willing to sacrifice something for the good of others, giving our time, sharing our ideas, etc.
People split into focus groups to share the type of work they were involved in. It was a great time, people naturally made connections with other projects and swapped contact details! There was time to prayer for one another and time to enjoy coffee and cake!
During feedback at the end of the session one lady shared how she had been encouraged to continue with what God has called her to, that through hearing the stories of others she was inspired to push through the obstacles and difficulties.
We were really encouraged by the openness and willingness to share.
Please pray that God would bless each of the projects that was represented and that his will would be done in their lives.
Rachel
Entry three:
Posted: 6 April 2008
The Bowyer's Blog - April 2008
We’re three months in to our challenge to map Christian activity across Durban. So far we’ve seen 52 projects – that’s twelve more that we’d hoped for by this stage of the year. One lady in particular left a lasting impression on us. When Esther’s husband became sick and died she had know idea why. What she found out would change her life forever. Esther discovered her husband had died of Aids and not only that but that she was also HIV+
She soon became depressed, even suicidal. That was until the local church began to intervene, they offered food parcels and more importantly counseling which would eventually help Esther to put her life back on track. Esther is quite clear, “I should be dead now, but with the support of my local church I’m alive!”
Esther decided to start a support group to help others in her community suffering as a result of HIV in the way her church had helped her. The groups’ mission statement is to make people aware of HIV and Aids, how to live with it and how to prevent it. Esther continues to receive food parcels from the church which she distributes to those in most need, but as she says, “…this is not enough, now we should be living!” Esther believes ‘living’ means people helping themselves rather than relying on others. She wants her three children to be cared for within the community once she’s died. The group is now making pillows, peg bags and cell phone pouches to sell and they have started a funeral fund so members can have proper burials when they die.
During the coming month we’ll be inviting Esther and other people and projects we’ve met during our mapping of Durban to join us for a Soul Action Network day. We’ll be encouraging them to share their experiences in more depth and to pray for one another’s work.
We’ll let you know next month how it goes.
Phil, Rachel and Zach
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Entry two:
Posted: 4 March 2008
The Bowyer’s Blog - March 2008
As things stand we’ve managed to meet an incredible 38 of the 100 projects we’re aiming to meet and map this year. As you can imagine there are some real gems, doing some incredible work with Durban’s poor, here’s just few examples…
The Vumani Urban Renewal Programme is based in the Inanda C Township in Northern Durban. Faced with the issue of HIV and Aids the project has identified the need to encourage better nutrition amongst local people. Kwa-Zulu Natal, of which Durban is part, has the highest number of HIV cases in South Africa. Vumani run workshops which train local people to grow their own organic vegetables. Each participant gets a 2 x 1 metre piece of land (known as a doorway garden), to grow veg to feed their family and / or sell. We’re currently exploring how this model of empowering local people might be utilized by other Soul Action network members.
‘The Tinman’ was another inspirational character that we met quite early on in this months mapping. Jimmy Love (the Tinman’s real name) teaches children from a nearby Township to make crafts out of the scrap metal that the find on the streets. Rachel and I were given angels made out if tin by Jubulani and Goli, two street children benefiting from the project.
Last week we visited an impressive soup kitchen; we’ve actually visited quite a few, but this one stood out because of the way it involved a number of churches from different denominations. The local Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican churches work together to feed 200 people daily. Members of all the congregations get involved by making and freezing the soup at home, ready for collection by the Musgrave Outreach Project, who distribute it to the homeless.
That’s all for now, more to come next month!
Phil, Rachel and Zach
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Entry One: Introductions
Posted: 31st January 2008
Hi, before we go any further we thought it might be helpful to introduce ourselves…
My name is Phil Bowyer and for the past seven years I’ve been working for Tearfund, a relief and development agency based in the UK. My wife Rachel worked as a primary school teacher, specializing in working with children with special needs. We have a seven year old son, Zach, who has lots of energy and enjoys life.
We’re heading up the work of Soul Action in Durban, South Africa. Our passion is to serve the poor; empowering local people to meet their own needs and the needs of their communities and through this we want to show and share God’s love and power.
This month we’ve began what seems like the enormous task of mapping all Christian activity with the poor across the municipality of Durban (eThekwini in Zulu). Just to give you an idea of the scale of this, Durban covers an area of 2,292 sq km (884.9 sq miles), and has a population of 3,346,799 – it’s the second most populated city in South Africa, the largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
We are meeting amazing people doing some incredible work with the poor and we will be sharing with you their stories and needs. Our prayer is that Soul Action will be able to encourage and develop links between projects within Durban, in order that they may be more able to support each other in the work that God has called them to. With your help we can bring much needed resources to the city’s poorest people, offering practical advice and assistance, raising and distributing financial support to projects in need, and placing volunteers to serve on a 3, 6 or 12 month basis.
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