A family whom we have journeyed with since the April floods have sadly lost another part of their home in the weekend's heavy rains. If you are able to make a financial contribution to help our churches and communities through this devastating time, visit our donations page on cast.org.za.
"Therefore let all the faithful pray to You while You may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them." ~Psalm 32: 6 Please keep the communities of KwaZulu-Natal in prayer.
A truly blessed day spent with Pastors and farmers who travelled all the way from Newcastle to offer prayer and support to the community of KwaNdengezi Church of God.
Themba Dlamini, one of the great success stories to emerge out of CAST's business development programme, has taken his car-wash business to the next level. With dreams of expansion, Themba set out with a mission to purchase a container for his business. This would allow him to have a spaza shop running alongside his carwash so that while customers were waiting, they could hang out, purchase food and drinks and socialise with one another. Last weekend, the passionate [...]
Last weekend, Hearts to Hands and CAST held a Blanket Drive Campaign at The Village Market Centre. This campaign was linked to the Fitcampathon Winter Warmth Program in which participants have free entry into the Fitcampathon but are asked to donate a blanket towards those that are less fortunate this winter. The day brought in about 200 participants who donated about 250 blankets as well as clothes. Hearts to Hands even managed to recruit some potential future volunteers [...]
Debbie and Ernie Calder, two of CAST's devoted volunteers, had a story and message for everyone this week. We feel moved to respond to the message Pastor John brought to the church under the heading “God in our Country”. John referred to Nehemiah returning to Jerusalem to build the city wall. This wall was important to the people. We also have walls to build in this country ...and bridges. Pastor John’s message also said “start representing and displaying [...]
“The Street Ministry can be challenging and even distressing at times but victories like Mary’s* make it all so worthwhile knowing that God is omnipresent in our endeavors and is busy changing lives for the better and giving His people hope and a future”. When the team met Mary at The Nest shelter in Durban Central, she was in a bad way. Suffering from epilepsy and on constant medication, she came across very judgmental and self-centered. She had [...]
The electricity in the township is out again. The residents cannot cook food for themselves or for their families and the nearest store is a decent walk away. Besides, walking in the dark of the night is never the safest option for anybody. Nokuthula Ngcopo was tired of seeing this incident happen over and over again. This was a community she was born into and had grown up to love and so she came up with a business [...]
For a number of years, CAST has been running an after-school homework club at Addington Primary School. Volunteers assist small groups of children with their homework and provide an alternative to spending the afternoon on the streets. Children are referred by their school teachers and a lot of them have severe learning problems. This year, one of our interns, Rebecca Benn, decided to add something extra to the Addington Primary Extra Curricular programme. As well as assisting [...]
Imagine getting a group of teenagers excited about having to pick up litter in their community for an entire afternoon. Schools and parents have been trying for years to make kids litter-conscious and, most of the time, their efforts are in vain. But, CAST’s area coordinator in Lamontville decided that he was going to tackle this task and rally up the troops from the Lamontville Baptist youth group to clean up an area of the community. “I wanted [...]
