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Moseley Chimes
January 2008
I sit at my desk on a cold winter day and thoughts turn to last summer. We went on holiday to South Africa. It was a ‘holiday of a lifetime’ for Daniel. We thought that aged almost 11 years he would appreciate a safari. Our trip was to be educational but enjoyable. It proved to be more educational than we could have imagined. Our hotel had a wonderful concierge called Paul. After a few days he asked me if we would like to visit a township, not as tourists, but to help out with a charity which provides breakfast for hungry children. Of course we agreed. The following morning at 6:00 a.m., after a cup of tea, we set off with the founder of the charity, Chris Mwbiegna, an unpaid Pastor who earns his living as a tour guide, to the Capricorn township, to the south of Capetown.
Breakfast was provided in a wooden church next to the shop which sold the alcohol and drugs which rendered the parents incapable of looking after their children. By 6:30 a.m. Carol and I were serving porridge, Daniel was pouring milky tea into beakers and the first of 300 children were coming in for breakfast — a bowl of porridge, sardine/pilchard sandwich and beaker of milky tea. It was fast and furious activity but as usual I could not resist stopping work and getting amongst the children and talking to them. I was wearing my infamous pink shorts which were so old they had once been red — sadly they have now gone the way of all cloth after 15 years of faithful service. I joked with the children, ‘Why are you staring at me? Is it the pink shorts or my white legs?’ It is possible I was the first white person they had met up close and who spoke to them. I sat with them and some stared at me so hard they almost spilled their porridge.
Carol, Daniel and I had a very enjoyable but very emotional morning. I am sharing this experience with you because it is the story of a Good Samaritan and I want to spread the word of what he is doing. Chris Mwbiegna founded this charity and pays for it from his own pocket and with whatever money others give him. It costs £30 per day to feed 300 children. His philosophy is simple. A hungry child cannot concentrate on learning. If the child is fed, he or she might concentrate better in class and leave school with an education. With an education that child might get a job; a job means a proper house and a future of hope. Chris can only afford to feed these children two days per week. His ambition is to provide a hot cooked breakfast 5 days a week and to provide remedial learning classes after school. We have stayed in touch and he has told me the remedial classes have started. I promised him I would find what money I could to help him with his work. As a start, my friends and relatives are receiving a picture of the children and a card telling them their Christmas present is to feed them for one day.
Will Chris succeed? Paul confided two things to me after our visit to the Capricorn Township. Firstly, Chris had mentored him; made sure he received an education, trained him in his own company and secured his job as a concierge at the Radisson SAS hotel. Paul has insisted that his contract allows him every Tuesday and Thursday morning off work to help with the feeding programme.
The second thing Paul confided to me? One of the reasons he asked Carol, Daniel and me to come and help was that he wanted these children to see that black and white can marry and live together, and, there is a future of black and white people being together. I have a picture of Paul and I linked arm and arm, shoulder to shoulder, and it is one of my favourites from the holiday. I would go back to Capetown, again, just to see him and Chris and re-visit the children. It is humbling and invigorating to see Christian charity in action.
I could write a lot more about the Capricorn project and our experiences in South Africa. However, among other stories, the description of the Giraffe Poo Spitting Contest will have to wait. Daniel is confident he can beat Philip, our ranger and local champion, on our return visit.