Nelson Mandela Bay Christians have provided relief aid to approximately 40 residents of Gqebera (Walmer Township) who suffered a devastating loss when their shacks were burnt down in a fire on February 26 while many of them were attending church services..
Two Gqebera churches responded immediately, by housing the victims on their premises.
Alerted to the fire victims’ need by Kingfisher FM and motivated by Pastor David van der Walt of Legacy Life Ministries, the NMB Metro Day of Prayer Committee reacted by offering to collect goods donated by the Christians of Nelson Mandela Bay and to transport them to Gqebera on Wednesday March 7.
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Among those who responded to the call for aid was a group of children from Victoria Park Grey Primary School, who delivered a van and trailer full of goods they had collected.
All of the articles collected were handed over yesterday to Councillor Nomajama Benya and Jester Mangena from Disaster Management in the presence of community members and a number of the victims. The items included building materials, furniture, blankets, 250 bags of clothing and a large box of Bibles.
Disaster relief storage plan
The relief action follows a recent prayer walk from the NMB Stadium to the City Hall where a plaque containing a prophetic declaration that was made over the city at the Metro Day of Prayer at the NMB Stadium last year was presented to the Executive Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile. The declaration includes the statement “We take our responsibility to reach out in love to every person that God has placed in our lives. We arise as the united Body of Christ to be a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit as a witness. Nelson Mandela Bay will never be the same in Jesus Name.”
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The Metro Prayer Day Committee says: “We would like to thank all those Christians who generously donated to this cause and reached out in love to the 40 shack-dwellers that lost everything they owned on Sunday 26 February 2012. Anyone desiring to make further donations, can contact Pastor David van Walt on 072 985 3590, for information.”
Van der Walt says the committee has suggested to Disaster Management that two dates a year should be designated for city events where every church and Christian can bring supplies to store at its depot.
“In that way the city would be ready in case of any crisis. We will be discussing the idea at a future meeting with Disaster Management. We want to be a support to the city and not a liability. It is also very hard to mobilise such a big need in such a short time, so we want to give the church an opportunity to be Jesus to the city,” he said.
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dorcus is a project tht is so keen to come to the church to feed the victims of the fire fresh veggies and to hand out clothing to the needy
Hi Bertha, thanks for your comment. I suggest you contact contact Pastor David van Walt on 072 985 3590 for more info.
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