Destruction during Apartheid
"Charity is a quality of the heart and soul, rather than an isolated good deed of giving. The source of your charitable giving is not your own will but the will of God. Charity is therefore a divine act... a sacrament, where, in your giving you make GOD a real presence."
Lavender Hill is a township (ghetto), approximately 30 kms south east of the city of Cape Town. It was established under the infamous Group Areas Act (1950) of Apartheid (Legislated Segregation designed by the Nationalist regime of the 1940's). This Act resulted in thousands of people being forcibly removed from their homes to specially demarcated areas constructed for people of colour, known as "dormitory housing estates" around Cape Town. The present Lavender Hill was named after a small section of the original District Six, and no doubt had its original name beginnings from a district in London, England.
here are approximately 50,000 people living in a number of three-storey courts (flats), making Lavender Hill one of the most densely populated areas in the greater Cape Town area. With an unemployment rate of slightly more than 75%, life remains a constant battle for survival. The Church established herself in Lavender Hill during the very early 1980's, in the form of the Parish of St Mark the Evangelist.
For that reason, a creative alliance is forged between Lazarus, the friend of Jesus brought back to life by Him, and our own long-neglected and entombed existence at St Mark, Lavender Hill.
A parish centre at St Mark was a major resource lacking. The Lazarus Project was a sacrament - the visible sign of God's presence and grace and saving act, in which the wider community will share, where our young will once again be enthused to evolve from a state of gloom, obscurity and decay to that of life, love and hope.
For more info about the ongoing work of United Thank Offering, go to
http://ecusa.anglican.org/88381_100962_ENG_HTM.htm
to learn more about projects funded by UTO