The BELOVED COMMUNITY
Rising in Kliptown Initiative
Located on the southeast aide of Johannesburg, historic Kliptown is one of the poorest neighborhoods of SOWETO. An early vibrant multicultural hub of trade and commerce, resistance and resiliency, this facinating community hosted the Congress of the People in 1955. On June 26, 1955, 3,000 representatives of all South African racial and ethnic groups, gathered in the centre of Kliptown, on what is now the “Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication,” to draw up the “Freedom Charter.” Under the opening line “The People Shall Govern!” it laid out the principles for a democratic country in which all South Africans would be entitled equal rights. Amid repression, the tri-fecta for victory over apartheid emerged: Resistance! Resiliency! Reimagination!
Despite its poverty, Kliptown will always be a place pregnant with new possibilities. Its in this historic yet under-resourced community thst Bishop Jan Sauls excavated new possibilities. In the eyes and lives of the neglected, the last and the least. Bishop Sauls caught a glimpse of new life rising from the ruins.of Kliptown, hence Elohim Community Church.
Grounded in people power, “Beloved Community Rising in Kliptown” initiative will be a receptacle and resource to organize, mobilize and realize a more just, fair and thriving community where people will experience quality of life and equitable belonging. In our convening of multi-sector stakeholders, this initiative will employ and deploy place-based research to coordinate courageous conversations, table talks and deliberate dialigues with residents, community leaders and current realities to listen to visions, learn about assets, and leverage resources to catalyze beloved community, characterized by quality of life and equitable belonging. Current BeCoCo Partners that will anchor this process include:
*Elohim Community Church
*PUSH
*Exaltations Music & Arts
*Concerned Comunity Members at Kliptown Secondary School
*Principal at Kliptown Primary School
Join Beloved Commumity Coalition as a “Launch Partner” to seed the renewal and revitalization of the community of my birth, Kliptown – a place of resistance, resiliency and reimagination. Reya Vaya! Let’s GROW!!
“Isaiah 43:18-19 American Standard Version (ASV)
Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43: 18-19).
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” )Mark 12:10-11