#YourStory – Satisfaction through helping others
"I really enjoyed working with the community. The best thing for me was the satisfaction of helping other people. "
Mr Hansie (67) and Mrs Susan (59) Slabbert have been assisting the community for over 10 years by doing chaplaincy work for the residents of Edenvale and for members of the emergency services.
Mr Slabbert, who has his honorary PhD in theology, began his chaplaincy work when he was approached by the late Mr Claude Kidwell while he was an assistant pastor at the the Pentecostal Protestant Church.
Mrs Slabbert said she joined her husband a couple of years later once she had completed her chaplaincy course.
“The course lasted about six weeks and there were two classes a week,” said Mrs Slabbert.
“My father was a fairly firm Christian. When I was growing up he would always tell me I would be a pastor,” said Mr Slabbert.
Mr Slabbert said before he became a pastor he would help out at Sunday school.
The Slabberts, who are not active chaplains anymore, said they were part of the Emergency Services Chaplaincy of South Africa.
“The organisation would focus more on uniformed people such as the SAPS or firefighters,” said Mr Slabbert.
Mr Slabbert said he preferred working with community members.
“If you concentrate on the people in uniforms only, who is going to look after the needs of the community?” asked Mr Slabbert.
Mr Slabbert who worked as a police reservist said the couple attended a variety of scenes which included hijackings, shootings, robberies and they did death notifications.
“My training as a police reservist was helpful. It allowed me to secure the scene and protect the crime scene,” said Mr Slabert.
While being a chaplain there have been some laughable moments and there have also been some sad moments.
The couple has been married for 23 years and said they gave up chaplaincy as it was too hard to balance their chaplaincy and business lives.
“Being a chaplain is a 24 hour job. We were starting a business and we were unable to attend a lot of scenes. It made us feel so guilty to say ‘no we can’t come’ to the scene.”
Mrs Slabbert said it was difficult to balance business and chaplaincy.
While being a chaplain the couple did not perform counselling.
“It was important for us to just offer trauma services. We would always refer the victims to trained and professional counsellors,” said Mr Slabbert.
“Being a chaplain is definitely a calling, you see some gruesome stuff,” said Mr Slabbert.
“I really enjoyed working with the community. The best thing for me was the satisfaction of helping other people, ” said Mr Slabbert.
Also read: Another great loss for Edenvale as Chaplain Claude Kidwell dies
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