“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 [...]
Imagine walking into a school and having the most beautiful children in Durban come running towards you and jumping into your arms even though they have never met you before in their life. Well, that’s exactly what Addington Primary Holiday Club is like. Within mere minutes you will have one or two children adopting you for the week: wanting to play catches with you; giving you an endless supply of hugs; playing with your hair; sitting on your [...]
It’s a one night commitment a week...but it could change a life for eternity. About one and a half years ago, the CAST Street Ministry Team met a man named Johan at one of their weekly visits to The Nest shelter in Durban Central. Many of the team warmed to Johan’s friendly nature and dry sense of humour and over time he became a good friend to the team. He had not had contact with his family for [...]
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 [...]
Every Tuesday night, Cheryl Robbins walked the streets of Durban with the rest of our Street Ministry team, eager to see the four young boys who had captured her heart. One of them, Maxwell, would run up to her with his arms outstretched, shouting, “Mom!” That’s what happens during street ministry. Relationships and bonds are formed. Why would a young, black street child regard a white woman, whom he sees once a week, as a motherly figure? It’s [...]
“I decided taking photos would be a good business. I enjoyed it so much”. Every kid has a dream. All it took was a camera at his matric dance to get 18 year old Andile Gumbi to start dreaming. He had often told friends in the Kwadabeka community that he wanted to be a businessman one day, but was never quite sure of what he wanted to do. Then, on the night of his dance, as he was [...]
Every day was a struggle; trying to get R35 to pay for the shelter .It didn’t seem like much and it didn’t seem like it should be that hard to get, but try telling that to Sakkie, a man in his forties who spent his days trawling the streets of Durban looking for work. He would disagree. Having work experience as a boiler and a welder but not being able to get a job anywhere meant that Sakkie [...]
