Experiencing the love of Jesus every day is what drives an East London couple to do missionary work in Stoney Drift.Joshua Minter and his wife Rachael serve a community of about 200 at a dump site in Amalinda and there is nowhere else they would rather be.
“While I was at school I was involved in drugs and alcohol and I was depressed. I heard the voice of God telling me to run.
“From then I began a journey of discovery with God. I went to Missions Training School and that is where I met my wife,” Minter said.
The couple travelled a bit before ultimately returning to East London where they began their ministry last November.
They run a creche, baby care centre, a church, soup kitchen and rely on donations of food and clothing which get passed on to children in the community.
Every other week they have a doctor to consult with the children and make hospital referrals where necessary.
“I experience radical love here. This is where I meet Jesus. I see him in the faces of little boys and girls and in rape victims. This is not my ministry, this is my family,” said Minter.
Six volunteers, who receive a stipend, assist the couple.
Once a month they bathe children under the age of 12. Packs of essentials like nappies for infants are handed to parents.
Like a well-oiled machine the group works together – while a man was busy changing bathwater, women bathing the children would pass them to others for them them to be clothed and returned to their mothers.
Sabelo Myeza, the vice-chairman of an NGO that supports the Minters’ work, said he loved helping with the children.
“Our organisation is called uThixo ulungile ministries (God is good ministries) and we try to find funds for them.
“I grew up in an environment similar to this and now I am an engineer. I know there is hope here and that there are brilliant minds playing around here,” Myeza said.
Zinobia Ngxikwa said her two-year-old daughter was in the creche.
“They get breakfast and lunch with snacks and we are grateful for what they do for us. I do not have the means to give my child what they give her so this is wonderful,” Ngxikwa said.
Nomliliso Nkatha volunteers to cook for the children every day.
“This couple is so young yet they are doing such wonderful work. They are helping our community so cooking here is the least we could do. We have never seen such kindness; they are a huge help,” Nkatha said.
Divine inspiration for mission
“While I was at school I was involved in drugs and alcohol and I was depressed. I heard the voice of God telling me to run.
“From then I began a journey of discovery with God. I went to Missions Training School and that is where I met my wife,” Minter said.
The couple travelled a bit before ultimately returning to East London where they began their ministry last November.
They run a creche, baby care centre, a church, soup kitchen and rely on donations of food and clothing which get passed on to children in the community.
Every other week they have a doctor to consult with the children and make hospital referrals where necessary.
“I experience radical love here. This is where I meet Jesus. I see him in the faces of little boys and girls and in rape victims. This is not my ministry, this is my family,” said Minter.
Six volunteers, who receive a stipend, assist the couple.
Once a month they bathe children under the age of 12. Packs of essentials like nappies for infants are handed to parents.
Like a well-oiled machine the group works together – while a man was busy changing bathwater, women bathing the children would pass them to others for them them to be clothed and returned to their mothers.
Sabelo Myeza, the vice-chairman of an NGO that supports the Minters’ work, said he loved helping with the children.
“Our organisation is called uThixo ulungile ministries (God is good ministries) and we try to find funds for them.
“I grew up in an environment similar to this and now I am an engineer. I know there is hope here and that there are brilliant minds playing around here,” Myeza said.
Zinobia Ngxikwa said her two-year-old daughter was in the creche.
“They get breakfast and lunch with snacks and we are grateful for what they do for us. I do not have the means to give my child what they give her so this is wonderful,” Ngxikwa said.
Nomliliso Nkatha volunteers to cook for the children every day.
“This couple is so young yet they are doing such wonderful work. They are helping our community so cooking here is the least we could do. We have never seen such kindness; they are a huge help,” Nkatha said.
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