AMONG the organisation’s hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown is St Peter’s Church on Mahatma Gandhi Road in Durban’s Point area. The church, which was built in 1922, has long served the community.
Reverend Father Georges Bidzogo, said the church building has fallen into disrepair following the pandemic. They are appealing to the community to donate building supplies and paint to help repair the church.
“We are looking forward to refurbishing the church. We need to repaint, but we can’t afford to because of the very low income that is coming in through the plate collection. Add onto that the Covid-19 pandemic whereby the church has been closed due to lockdown restrictions since 2020. The church survives through donations. This has been quite a challenging time, even to pay the utilities. On top of this, we are having a problem with water leaks around the church. We need to waterproof the church. We started to do this a few years ago, but could not continue,” he said.
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“This parish belongs to the Catholic Archdiocese of Durban. It is a heritage church. It was a church for the Apostleship of the Sea (offering pastoral care to seafarers). Now it has become a church for migrants. Very few national citizens are worshiping here. Most of the people are foreigners, refugees and very poor people, as well as pensioners who come from old age homes,” added Bidzogo.
The church, which runs a soup kitchen and pre-school, stands as a beacon of hope to a community riddled with crime.
“In the point area we are dealing with quite a lot of issues,” said Bidzogo.
Serving the community
Despite their low income, the church continues to run their soup kitchen, serving meals on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and serving sandwiches in the remainder of the week.
“Although we are poor, we also take care of the poor- that is one of the things we try to do. We are accepting donations toward this work such as rice, mielie meal and chicken. We also collect toiletries and sanitizer for families.,” he said.
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Pensioner and PRO for the church, Cecile Kathan recently raised R12500 for the church by selling pre-owned items.
“I asked people for unwanted items and among my friends, I sold it,” she said.
“My main objective in raising these funds was to cover the cost of waterproofing and painting of the church,” added Kathan.
Kathan said many of the church members had lost their businesses or income during the pandemic and were no longer able to sustain the church. For more information, or to donate to the church, contact Cecile Kathan on 082 781 6699 or Reverend Father Georges Bidzogo on 072 578 3183 or email: rogergeorgesbidzogo@gmail.com.
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