Project Gateway

Pietermartizburg, South Africa
Project Gateway
It’s amazing what a dozen people can accomplish in tow day. While in Pietermartizburg we were divided into two groups and had a chance to do a bit of service work at Project Gateway, which is the place we stayed at for a week. It is an old prison that has been converted into a hub of different ministries and programs, run by the local church, which teach the needy and help those in Crisis.
Our group’s task was to empty an old workshop. In the morning we were led to a building that had not been used in years. Inside there were cabinets full of every conceivable item; piles of wood and lots of random junk all of which was covered with a thick layer of sawdust. We spent the day hauling everything outside and sorting it into different piles like “the garbage pile”, “the useful pile” and “the who-knows-what-pile”. Some of the things we found in that mess were funny, like an old computer, jewellery, a few Bibles in Zulu, too many used tea bags to count and even a little coffin.
Working through the African heat of the day was exhausting but by with a lot of hard the building was empty by the end of the afternoon. The second day wasn’t nearly as hot because we spent it cleaning the room by hosing down the rafters and scrubbing the walls and floors.
We could not believe the change that half our group had made in such a short time. It was now possible to see that this building could e used for something new and the staff at Project Gateway thanked us again and again for our work. We were all too happy because they gave us fantastic hospitality all week, and now we’ve seen what a gift a few hours of work can be. The work we did helped the full time staff to continue to creative positive changes in their community as they work with those in great need.

Submitted by Jen Bergsma