Jubilee Centre studies offer hope in South Africa
Posted: 18 June 2008
Last month 62 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced as South African anger against immigrants turned to violence. As has been seen elsewhere in the world, foreigners are blamed for soaring crime rates and accused of taking jobs - one-third of adults are unemployed and 43 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. Mobs looted immigrant-owned shops and at least one victim was burnt alive, while South Africans who "look foreign" were also caught up in the violence. Many immigrants fled South Africa for their home countries, while others took shelter in police stations and community centres.
One church has written to say that for some time now they have been using a series of Bible studies produced by the Jubilee Centre, entitled "Loving the Alien", in their attempts to create awareness of refugees in their society. When the crisis broke out, on 22 May, the Baptist Refugee Centre in Cape Town started to get desperate calls from people linked to their ministry and they were soon meeting with city councillors and senior police to see what could be done.
Rev Dave Stemmett reports, "I had to contact local churches to house the people. I praise God for the response of the churches, many of whom opened their church halls for the displaced people. Then we had to keep them warm. It is winter in South Africa and very cold and wet in Cape Town right now."
The churches of Cape Town that are housing refugees have formed an informal supply and assistance network. They are well stocked with food and other supplies but, with for instance 120 people living in a small church hall that has only two toilets and two hand basins, "the venues are getting strained." However, it is not just the physical needs of the refugees that they are concerned about.
"I have been inundated with requests from churches for material to make people aware of the Biblical imperatives regarding caring for strangers and refugees," the pastor told the Jubilee Centre. In response, he has arranged for the Jubilee Centre's "Loving the Alien" Bible studies to be reproduced in a local magazine.
Pray for the local church leaders as they continue to provide for people from Africa's other troubled countries, including Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, and Cape Verde.