Zimbabwean Refugee Meeting at the Methodist Central Mission

The Methodist Bishop, Paul Verryn, has turned the methodist mission in downtown Johannesburg into a refugee centre for displaced Zimbabweans. The mission is constantly in the news, and its become something of a symbol for what has happened to Zimbabweans, and how South Africans react to them (for example, it was raided by the police in January 2008).

Tonight I went to one of the regular volunteer meetings thinking I could do something at the centre. It was an overwhelming experience. Driving through the deserted evening streets of down town Johannesburg, the mission was unmissable: hundreds and hundreds of people were milling outside.

The situation inside the church was chaotic and a little overwhelming: many more people milling around or sleeping on the floor, and that heavy musty smell of too many people in an enclosed space. The church pews were crowded with people watching television there, and laundry had been hung to dry behind the frosted glass to one side of the sanctuary.

The meeting itself had a strange similarity to a chaotic school assembly: Verryn had representatives from many different activities stand up and give a report: sports clubs (soccer, karate, chess), employment opportunities (sewing, beadwork and computer literacy workshops) and internal organization (the security guards). The church was full of people, of all ages, some of them just sleeping on the pews or on the floor, others listening intently and giving input. It struck me how orderly it all was; I can't imagine a similar meeting of South African refugees in some hypothetical future Zimbabwe behaving in this passive manner - they would be a lot more unrully. And by the end of the evening, after two hours, I left - gratefully, I must confess - with an appreciation of what Veryyn is doing. The church was not a pleasant sight, but the atmosphere there was at least very humane, and the people there were being given some form of dignity if they wanted it.