Overview - Living Grace

Living Grace seeks to transform the shattered lives of the destitute through the love of Jesus. We seek to play a vital role in the motivation, treatment and support of people who are without basic necessities, to transform the lives of those who are lost and through effective networking to be a voice for the voiceless. A bridge to help the destitute of the area took the form of a feeding scheme which was started approximately 6 years ago from the Radio CCFM hall. The old Standard Bank building was bought, and about five years ago a more intentional program with the destitute was begun. Living Grace now operates a daily feeding program, provides lockers where the homeless keep their belongings, a shower, laundry facilities, toilets, food parcels, direction in getting ID books, access to Social services, pensions, grants, hospital visits, oversight of their medication for TB and HIV, as well as health and substance abuse support groups. Living Grace also helps clients get jobs, and accommodation once they are rehabilitated sufficiently to hold down these jobs, as well as providing access to affordable second hand clothing. Poverty is a major and growing problem in South Africa. It is the major cause of homelessness and unless addressed and managed will result in severe socio-economic problems. Linked closely with poverty is the high incidence of people who have become HIV positive, who suffer from substance abuse, immorality, and other anti-social behaviours. Street people are amongst the most vulnerable members of society and live with the problems of no security or protection, illiteracy, drug and alcohol abuse, hunger and malnutrition, inadequate shelter, sexual exploitation (prostitution), criminal abuse (used for drug trafficking) and threats to their health (TB, STD’S and HIV and AIDS).

It is, therefore, important that we address the overall decline of moral and family values as a means of the prevention of homelessness, and facilitate community development in a holistic manner. A return to Biblical values and morals is what our community is hungry for, and is the motivation for all we do at Living Grace.

Living Grace Ministry

Living Grace Resources

How to Pray with Us

- Bakkie (pick-up truck) to transport donated food to increase people fed daily

- Funding for a substance abuse/ addiction training counselor

- Funding to refinish floor in main hall/ remove carpet

From Tragedy to Hope

Every day we read or see stories of gang violence in the newspaper or on television. For most of us, the victims are just statistics that do not touch our lives but Craig Petersen, Living Hope volunteer at Muizenberg is no statistic. Slender and handsome, this fresh faced eighteen- year old seems the picture of health as you look at him through the receptionist’s window. There is however more than meets the eye. Craig sits in a wheel chair; paralyzed from bullets he took three years ago, in the crossfire of a gang war in which he was not personally involved. “I was just standing on a corner in an area called Capricorn,” he remembers. “Some gang members, older than me, came on bicycles and mistook me for someone else. I saw the gun pointed at me, heard a noise, a “zing!” and that’s all I remember.” One bullet went through his spine, another left his left hand immobile and he still carries one in his head. As he hovered between life and death, the first thing he remembers when he regained consciousness was his father who told him, “Craig if you leave me now, I can’t buy you a pair of grasshoppers,” (fancy black sneakers).

After several operations Craig left the hospital for a year of rehabilitation with one question burning in his mind. “Why did they do this to me, since I did nothing to them?”

Once he got home, apart from the encouragement of his mother not to give up, he gives credit to the Living Hope Home Based Care workers who came to Capricorn and treated his bed sores. Realizing he needed something to do, Living Hope nurse Agnes offered him a chance to be a volunteer at Muizenberg and this is where you will find him three times a week as he greets people and improves his skills on the computer which he loves. Now he is content to leave the men who shot him “in God’s hands.” Before all this happened he said, “I believed in Jesus,” and now he says, “I know that God loves me.”

Today Craig also spends his days at Living Grace in Muizenberg, where he will greet you with a big smile. He devotes his time there to hand crafting cards for all occasions, ranging from birthday cards to “thinking of you” cards. Craig uses the gifts that he has been given to bless others with these special cards, each with a note from him on the back. The card making is an entrepreneurial effort used to supplement his income, and he has plans to own his own business, one day soon. Please pray for Craig in his endeavors to be independent, and for those who will help him realize this dream.

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