EK SE - OLA

October 2, 2020 AseLihle Media

The elegance of God’s will comfort the former epicenter of covid-19 on Heritage Day.

While millions across South Africa gathered to celebrate and remind the world of their traditions and diversity wearing their colorful traditional clothing 50 congregants met in Phandulwazi, Langa Township to uneasy their suffering and glorify the lord for survival.

Evangelist Nozie Ntakumba praising during the revival worship of the God’s Grace Ministry in Phandulwazi, Langa Township in Cape Town. Photo: Asavela Peko/As’eLihle Media

Asavela Peko I October 1, 2020

Western Cape – Captivated into the high spirited, cheerful, and revival worshipping sermon of the God’s Grace Ministry during the aftermath of coronavirus that taunted hearts, spirits and lives are Capetonians who came in numbers to relieve themselves and praise the lord on a heritage day (September 24, 2020).

The sixth administration’s instrumental decision to move South Africa to Level 1 of the lockdown as of midnight on September 20, 2020 gave the much-anticipated confirmation to the ministry as it had over a month of planning the revival.

“We have been planning this revival for over a month, and when the president announced we knew that God’s plan could not be shuttered down but affirmed by the president’s address,” said 23-year-old Evangelist Nozie Ntakumba who spearheaded the sermon.

Ntakumba who is no stranger to Cape Town congregants since the inception of the God’s Grace Ministry in 2015 seemed delighted to be back and only this time covid-19 had left more graves than progress which have caused uncontrollable uncertainties and shaken faith for others.

50 congregants across the province who attended the revival where blown away by the deliverance by Ntakumba who received a standing ovation and was lauded by Amanda “Happy Girl” Raraza who is a presenter at Zibonele FM hosting a faith show named Ebukhoneni that hosted her few weeks before the deliverance in their studios in Khayelitsha.

“Sis Nozie is a vessel assigned by God to the hopeless, and to give them a breakthrough. She is a genuine prophetess and she is the kind of guests I admire and like hosting in my show,” confidently said Amanda.

She added,” Her deliverance surpassed the expectations proving that God had found the rightful messenger and his spirit led her.”

A congregant, 41-year-old Nolukhanyo Tshaka could not had enough of the revival saying that it is as if the Eastern Cape based house of the lord knew exactly what they needed after a huge blow by the coronavirus that shuttered the country into its knees.

“God has elevated the service and graced us with her daughter, Evangelist Ntakumba who could not come at a better time when we have been hit by the covid-19 changed our normal living arrangements.”

Ntakumba took to the social networks to express her gratitude to the congregants who part-taken on the revival and assured them that her church is to continue with its revivals and visits to the province as usual.

“We are grateful, and delighted by the support we received, and more importantly the elevation by the lord to deliver his word,” concluded Ntakumba.

God’s Grace Ministry says it will be hosting more sermons within the Western Cape over the upcoming years and wish to open branches in other parts of the country, however, all in due course when God gives them the strength to pursue that phase.

 

ONE 4 LANGA

 

Long-divided communities are uniting under Cape Town Together to help those in-need

By: Megan Gieske 10 November 2020 COVID-19

Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Under Cape Town Together, communities long-divided over racial lines are uniting to help those in-need.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing financial crisis in South Africa, Mzikhona Mgedle lost his job in the non-profit sector, but he wasn’t backing down. He started the Langa CAN, “community action network,” to meet the specific needs of his community, and he wasn’t alone.

Mzikhona Mgedle is part of a growing movement to meet community needs through self-organization, “for people by the people.” Using the power of social media in a new way, neighborhood-level CANs (“community action networks”) like the Langa CAN, unite the country during a global crisis.

“We move fast with the speed of trust, where we collaborate among ourselves,” Mzikhona said, “We work with anyone who’s willing to be part of the network.”

Responding to the pandemic

CANs like Mzikhona’s began as a rapid, community-led response to COVID-19. In just five months, 170 CANs spread across the city, and the Facebook group for their umbrella network, Cape Town Together, grew to over 18,000 members from its start on March 17th.

In a famously divided country, the millions of South Africans living in densely populated townships that are part of the legacy of apartheid or “apartness,” were disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

At the edge of the city, Langa’s tidy, tin-roofed houses lay behind a high fence on the busy road that leads to the Cape Town International Airport. Laundry drapes over sheds covered with tin, plastic sheeting, and scrap wood, or flags in the wind outside crowded, brick apartment buildings. Stretching across 3.09 km2 (1.19 mi2) of flatland, 80,000 people often share one-bedroom homes with multiple families and communal taps with hundreds of neighbors. Commands to “social distance” and “wash hands with soap and water” come with greater difficulty here.

This is the community Mzikhona Mgedle comes from.

Langa CAN began with the distribution of food parcels from Mzikhona’s own home. “Our kitchens have been active ever since three days before the lockdown (beginning on March 27th). Since I initiated the project, now it has established six community kitchens,” Mzikhona said. “Each month, we can feed 9,000 people.”

Helping the community

Twenty-five women volunteer to cook in the community kitchens. Most of the women volunteering lost their jobs due to the lockdown, and yet, they’re feeding 9,000 people a month.

“Instead of staying at home doing nothing, we like to come here and help, and cook for other people, so at least we are doing something good to benefit others,” Nosipho said. Nosipho cooks in a repurposed shipping container with three other women.

“Every day, the number of people queuing goes up, including the kids and the elderly,” Lulu said. She started a community kitchen in her own home with members of her family and her neighborhood.

The women make sure social distancing is practiced, everyone wears their masks, and sanitizes their hands. “You have to have a passion [for] doing this, otherwise you’ll get tired,” Lulu said. Her passion is clear, as is what can happen when women unite to defend their community.

“Most people who are testing positive are breadwinners, people who are providing income to the family,” Mzikohna said, “When they’re in self-quarantine for 14 days in government facilities, kids will starve or won’t get medical care.”

Throughout the pandemic, school feeding schemes closed, leaving children without their one meal a day.

An estimated 3 million people in South Africa lost their jobs between February and April, and recent research shows that the percentage of people who have run out of money for food in the last year has increased from 25% to 47%.

With bicycles donated by Heroes on Bikes, Langa CAN delivers cooked food to the bedridden, elderly or disabled, and people in isolation or those who have COVID-19.

Together with education packs for students, Langa CAN delivers food parcels anonymously to COVID-positive families with the help of a local clinic.

They also equip women from the community with materials and sewing machines to make masks for the elderly and others at high-risk. Doctors and health practitioners design flyers to teach best health practices for COVID-19, and by partnering with other CANs, they provide study materials to schools. They also plan to begin a community garden to grow vegetables for the kitchens.

“We all try to build back better for solidarity, where we gather and discuss what it is we want to achieve,” Mzikhona said.

CANS connecting communities

Although Langa and Claremont are just a 15 minute drive from each other, they’ve historically been separated. Under apartheid, Langa was declared one of the first black-only townships, and Claremont represents one of the predominately white, leafy suburbs flanking the slopes of Table Mountain. Through the use of social media, and apps like Whatsapp and Telegram, the Langa and Claremont CANs could partner, bridging the gaps of some of South Africa’s longest divides. The Claremont CAN fundraises for donations for the community kitchens in Langa.

For Mzikhona, social solidarity spreads faster than COVID-19. “This is a new way of building back better,” Mzikhona said that by developing and building relationships, “We can make sure we fight the divide in Cape Town of racism.”

It’s a beautiful testament to what a long-divided country like South Africa can achieve, when communities unite together under one cause, to fight COVID-19 and its effects of food insecurity and unemployment.

REACH FOR A DREAM

Party dream comes true for little Sibongile

Published Jul 1, 2001

 

Written by

Jo-anne Smetherham

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Sibongile wore a white satin dress with glittering sleeves and a diamante tiara. She was seated on the stage of the hall with her aunt, Thembisa Mhlongo, who looks after her.

Hundreds of people poured into the hall beneath her to celebrate her birthday party.

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But the five-year-old was exhausted, so she dozed through most of the proceedings.

Sibongile is battling with full-blown Aids.

She only awoke hours into the party when guests sang "Happy Birthday". She looked dazed as she surveyed the crowd, but when her aunt held her upright to pose for photographers, she broke into a grin.

When the third present was handed to her she refused to give it to her grandfather. Instead, she waved it playfully just out of his reach.

When she turned five last Tuesday, Sibongile Princess Mazeka wished for a birthday party. Sponsorships poured in after an article in the Cape Times last week about Sibongile's wish.

This might be her last birthday, as her condition is deteriorating. She has twice been admitted to hospital with pneumonia in the past month, and now has a brain tumour that causes her to have epileptic fits.

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Wimpy sponsored a party for more than 50 children at GrandWest Casino on Saturday and Metropolitan Life, with Reach for a Dream, sponsored most of the party at Phandulwazi Hall in Langa on Sunday.

The hall was festooned with balloons and streamers.

Sibongile sat on the stage with her aunt's family and a church choir. Children filled tiny colourful chairs at a central table and, as the afternoon wore on, the crowd in the hall swelled until even the aisles between the tables were packed.

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"Sibongile never feels sorry for herself," said Sister Maria, principal of St Anthony's preschool, which the little girl attends. "She has shown me, in my old age, how to overcome difficulties and sickness. One day she is in hospital, the next she is back in school, and quite happy again.

"This is what I hope - that other people with HIV-positive children will come forward and not hide the state of their children - and that they can have such a party too."

The party lasted for over five hours as church choirs from Bishop Lavis, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu rocked the hall with gospel music.

Priests, family and the principal of Sibongile's nursery school delivered speeches praising the little girl's zest for life.

"Sibongile is getting quite spoilt with all this attention, but that is good, because we don't know how much longer she will be with us," said Vuyani Jacobs of the Treatment Action Campaign, who helped organise the party.

"Last night, when I was with her, she prayed as she does every night: 'Lord, if you can't take this illness from me, make it easier for me to live with.'

"Sibongile is excited about her birthday," said her aunt.

"I don't think she is very sad about her disease, as I don't think she is really aware of what it means."

 

KWALANGA SPECIAL

67 minutes spent with children

By Staff Reporter

Jul 27, 2016

 

 Photo By Berea Mail

 

The children were ecstatic to receive meals and party packs.

Staff of the Early Learning Resource Unit (Elru), in Lansdowne, visited the Phandulwazi community hall in Langa, to give their 67 minutes for Mandela Day.

The Elru team arrived with soup and bread, as well as take-home packs full of delicious goodies. This initiative was sponsored by two of Elru’s development partners, the Rolf-Stephan Nussbaum Foundation and Joint Aid Management SA (JAM SA).

JAM SA donated takkies to all the children of the Langa programme and the Rolf-Stephan Nussbaum Foundation donated carpets for 40 playgroups, along with soap, facecloths and toilet rolls for the 240 children.

Elru has projects in Langa, Khayelitsha, Philippi, Saldanha, the Northern Cape and the North West, with a focus on 9 000 children under the age of five years.

Development partner JAM SA feeds all the children daily with porridge. For the Mandela Day initiative, the Elru staff donated soup, bread, and party packs, and the programme consisted of children singing the songs that they learn in the playgroups and at home.

Elru’s Family and Community Motivators programme started in 2010 in Langa with five women, and now there are 57 women in it. These women are often the breadwinners in their families.

ATHLONE NEWS

GOSPEL POWER

Gospel duo release their new album

By Phiri Cawe

Nov 12, 2020

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Veteran gospel musicians Kholekile Qongqo, left and Sithembiso Soboyisi entertain the crowd in Langa.

Two musicians who have been starved of an income due to the lockdown restrictions which prevented gatherings and live performances shared with Vukani what it has been like to finally perform in front of a live audience.

On Saturday, Kholekile Qongqo and Reverend Sithembiso Soboyisi launched their new album, Thembalimbi, at Phandulwazi Hall in Langa.

“It has been difficult for all the artists country-wide. We were forced to sit at home with nothing to show.

The province has not even given us the relief funding. We only heard about it in the newspapers and (on the) radio. But we are grateful to have a chance to perform in front of an audience.

“This is something to be proud of. We only hope that as time goes, things will be different,” said Sithembiso.

Sithembiso and Kholekile took full advantage of the day to perform their best songs, among them duets, for their enthusiastic crowd.

“This is the first show since March. We have never seen our fans for such a long time. We missed the stage and performances like this. As gospel artists we ought to give hope to the masses and it is now that time that we should do that. The only hope we have now is that the virus can go away so we can have big shows and concerts.

But we are happy with the little chance we have to perform for them, give them hope through the song,” Kholekile told Vukani.

The two applauded their audience for adhering to lockdown protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19. They said it was good to see people sanitising their hands and wearing masks.

“This is not the time to break the rules but encourage our people to live a clean life,” said Kholekile.

“As gospel artists, we have a responsibility to not only spread the word of God but to make people aware of their surroundings and dangers. We are all aware that there is word of a second wave, so we want people to be vigilant at all times.”

VUKANI NEWS

Phandulwazi KwaLanga - ZWAKALA

kulula.com plants 1 250 trees in Western Cape in celebration of Youth Day

15 Jun 2011 15:52Publicity 100

 

 

 

 Photo By News24

 

kulula fans raised an amazing R1-million to support Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) efforts to respond to climate change and improve environments, especially for the poor. This was achieved through kulula’s Project Green Programme, which aims to combat the atmospheric carbon loads and greenhouse gases released by their aircraft.

Thanks to these fans, 3 000 trees are already in the ground and doing their thing to bring the birds and the bees back to the communities of Tembisa and Mt Moriah.

“We applaud all our fans who opened their hearts and pockets to show support for climate change action through South Africa’s foremost greening organisation” says kulula marketing manager, Nadine Damen.

To celebrate Youth Day, on and around 16 June, kulula will now plant a further 1 250 trees in Langa, Eerste River and Mitchells Plain. Youth Day represents a turning point for South Africa and it is hoped that the trees will bring positive change to these communities too.

250 trees will be distributed to the deserving communities of Eerste River on 16 June at 15:00 and in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, on 18 June at 09h00.

333 residents will also receive trees to plant at their homes from Langa Community Hall on Youth Day morning with a further 333 trees handed over to community members at 12:30 at the Phandulwazi Centre, Zone 16.

A week later FTFA will plant a further 334 trees with more Langa residents.

“These areas are desperately in need of trees and green education to improve the surroundings, as well as to absorb carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gases,” said Mark Isaacs, an FTFA consultant in the Western Cape. “We have been working with these communities for the last couple of weeks to ensure that the trees are planted correctly and taken care of properly and the community members are very excited to be receiving these precious trees on this important day of remembrance in South Africa.”

kulula is also the supporter of the ground breaking new mobi site, mytrees.mobi, which allows South Africans to measure their carbon footprint and plant trees using their mobile phones, participate in a GreenIQ, learn about the environment and much more. Simply sms trees to 34747. Another kulula and FTFA first!

For more information or to attend any of the Youth Day tree distribution and planting events, for interviews, photographs or to attend the event, contact joanne@trees.org.za, or call Joanne at (011) 656 9802 and see http://mytrees.mobi/ to find out how you can help.