St. Thomas Parish in Kagiso, South Africa
About our Ministry with St. Thomas Parish
For the past five years, a group of St. George’s parishioners has headed to South Africa in October to join in what has become a thriving partnership and friendship with the members of St. Thomas parish in the township of Kagiso, located outside of Johannesburg. The ministry we do together with our St. Thomas partners began with an idea their priest had to begin a feeding program for a nearby school and is now growing and flourishing.
Here are some of the joint ministries we are currently involved in with St. Thomas:
· Feeding program – With support from St. George’s, St. Thomas feeds a hot meal once a week to 100 children from a nearby school who do not receive regular nutritious meals. We hope to increase both the number of children and meals per week this year.
· Gardens – Together we’ve planted and are sustaining substantial gardens at two nearby schools, one of which is under greenhouse shelter and provides the vegetables for the feeding program.
· Home renovation for orphaned family – We renovated and fenced the home of 7 orphaned children and St. Thomas continues to provide them with daycare and support.
· Relocation program – We are beginning a new joint program to thoughtfully relocate one family at a time out of the nearby shantytown into real housing under the able guidance of St. Thomas.
The partnership we share with these friends of the St. Thomas Kagiso parish is unique and special. While our extra October manpower and monetary resources enable them to increase their ability to minister in that country which has seen so much strife and still struggles greatly in its HIV/AIDS battle and other challenges, it is humbling to see the amount of outreach and ministry they carry out on a daily basis. Each visit, our efforts are guided by their vision, and we leave feeling blessed to have worked and worshipped (and laughed too!) alongside them. We believe there are many exciting things in God’s plan for this partnership and welcome anyone who would like to join us for next year’s trip!
If you have questions or would like to find out more, please contact Dyer Rodes at (615) 297-4537 or at wdrodesii@comcast.net.
Testimonials
Read many testimonials from St. George's parishioners about their time in South Africa.
A Little Girl Named Gladys - Agatha Nolen
How the Feeding Program Began
“So, who is that little girl?” I asked.
Surrounded by 780 young schoolchildren, we had just been overcome with tears when a huge sign was unveiled dedicating the vegetable garden to the partnership between St. Thomas Anglican Church of Kagiso, South Africa and St. George’s Episcopal Church, Nashville, TN. What a glorious sight to recognize the common bond that we all shared: God’s unconditional love for all His children.
“But, who is that little girl that read part of the dedication and is having her picture taken?” I asked again.
One of the assistant principals said, “I know the story. She is a very special little girl. It is because of her that we have the feeding scheme at the church.”
“Her name is Gladys Ndakane, and this is her story.”
“Three years ago, Father Xolani was driving on the streets of Kagiso and noticed this little girl on a street corner. He stopped and said, “How come you are not in school today?”
“I live with my mother and we don’t have money to buy a school uniform for me to attend school.”
“Father Xolani took her to the Tsholetsega School and made sure that they could accept another student. Then he took her and her mother to the store and bought her a school uniform with his own, personal money. Father Xolani learned more about the family and realized that the family did not even have enough money for food. They existed on bread and occasional rice. Father Xolani asked about other students at the school and found that many of the students were the same. The only food they received was one slice of bread at the beginning of each school day.
Father Xolani then declared, “The Parish of St. Thomas will help; we will start a feeding scheme to provide one hot, nutritious meal per week to as many students as we can afford.”
“So the church raised money to buy food and the ladies of the church worked to prepare it, but then they would run out of money and the feeding program would stop. Again, they would have money donated, but soon it would be gone, too, and the feeding program would stop. This happened time and again as money would be raised, but it would soon be gone, and the children would go hungry.”
“And then the people of St. Thomas of Kagiso met the people of St. George’s from Nashville.”
“It wasn’t until the people of St. George’s got involved in our feeding scheme, that we can now do great things. We feed 100 children one hot, nutritious meal each week, every week.
God has blessed this partnership and we can now do great things.”
“And this is the little girl that started it all.”
-Agatha Nolen