The Northfield Ministry Team of Northfield Methodist Church writes:
Thank you for the article on the work Northfield Methodist Church is doing in Marikana.
The community of Marikana is facing a humanitarian crisis.
It is this crisis that we, as a church, respond to – a response to the community of Marikana and not just the strikers of Marikana. This point is well captured in the article, but betrayed by the subtitle.
In this community, there are families who depend not just on the striking miners, but on the mining sector for their survival.
As a result of this deadlock between trade union and mining bosses, there are children who now go to school starving; there are women who are pregnant and malnourished.
Amongst the miners are those whose chronic medication programme has been disrupted because of irregular meals.
There are miners who want to go back to work but cannot.
Some are declared unfit to go underground due to poor nutrition.
This humanitarian crisis needs a response and our church feels compelled to extend itself for the sake of every person of Marikana who can benefit from our supply of food to the area.
Our work in Marikana is far more than assistance to striking miners.
