The Dumisani Story
During one of our early mission trips to Dumisani, we met with community leaders to discuss their needs and understand what the challenges are that the community faces. Many of these leaders were pastors and expressed the need for a place of worship. Because of the desperate economic circumstances their congregations face, they simply do not have the funds to build or maintain a place of worship. Even though there were no available funds at the time, the desire to build a church has steadily grown over the years since this first meeting. The desire is not only just to build a place of worship, but rather a Community Center which could productively be used for numerous purposes and projects. Initially, along with being used for a place for Christians to meet, worship and study the Word of God, it can serve as the new location for the Feeding Program. With the addition of a commercial grade kitchen, meals could be prepared and distributed. After their meal children from the feeding program could receive help with their homework. Later vision for the Community Center is that it could be expanded to accommodate a preschool and eventually a school where kids could receive a better education to prepare them for a self-sufficient future. Plans are currently under way to purchase land and fence the property. We are also working on obtaining drawings for the phases of the building construction for the Community Center.