Pakistani-born Pastor Sardar Masih, a former English lecturer, and his wife Naseem, a maths teacher, planned to emigrate to Canada to raise their children in early 2003.
But they felt somehow drawn to Africa – South Africa in particular – so they applied to do mission training in 2003 in this country. And it was not long after they arrived that they decided to make South Africa their permanent home.
But the couple admitted the initial adjustment was tough – and South Africa was a culture shock.
“We were training in Pretoria and everything was different from Pakistan. From the lifestyle to the food and even the weather. They thought Durban would be a better fit for us so we were sent here after we graduated in 2005 and this has been our home ever since.”
The couple and their three children live and work in the impoverished and remote New Glasgow community outside Verulam, which is not easily accessible by car.
The Sunday Tribune team met Masih in Verulam so he could drive us in his 4x4 to his home. As we drove on dirt roads, Masih said he always insisted on picking up visitors, as the roads were not conducive to sedans and hijacking was notorious in the area.
After travelling about 15km we arrived at Masih’s modest home, which serves as the offices for the Smyrna Global Outreach, his NGO.
There was a power outage in the area, which Masih said was a common occurrence because of illegal connections.
Asked why he stayed in the community beset with so many problems, including crime, poverty and unemployment, he said, “We live in the community because we want to know the people we help. By this we can also gauge who really needs help, and those who have and are greedy to want more. People know and trust us and come to us at any time for help.”
While they have a range of outreach programmes, their focus is on skills empowerment to equip people to earn an income and support themselves. “I founded Smyrna Global Outreach in 2005 and started going door to door to get to know the people. And we still do door-to-door ministry. It’s the best way to get to know people and their needs. I believe the time has come for us to stop just preaching and start helping people practically. We need to start living the word, loving our neighbours as ourselves.”
He said his ministry was two-fold. First, it was about preaching to and praying for people. Second was its outreach programmes, which meet the community’s needs.
“We run feeding schemes, provide clothing and medical care and educate about HIV/Aids. Our needs are always met through God’s grace. We donated stationery to more than 2 000 pupils this year and still have supplies and are looking for more pupils to assist.”
Skills
But their focus is moving away from feeding schemes, which don’t change lives, to skills empowerment.
“If someone is hungry and you feed them today, tomorrow they are back, hungry again. We want to equip people with skills so they can go out and earn a living to feed themselves. We use what limited resources we have to achieve this.”
They also offer training in gardening, sewing, carpentry, hair and beauty and plumbing. Now, said Masih, they are trying to get their computer literacy programme off the ground.
“We believe to build a nation you have to educate people, which is why we place a strong emphasis on education and we want to take things to a new level this year.
“There is a great need for computer literacy in the community, as most local schools don’t have computer labs or computer teachers. But this will be available to everyone in the community. So many people don’t even have an e-mail address or know how to use the internet. But we need donations to make this happen,” Masih said.
He said changing people’s mentality was key. “We try to make people understand why they have to work. We don’t encourage the beggar mentality, where people always expect handouts. We try to find jobs for people wherever we can, sometimes even in the companies which make donations.”
But he is modest about his work. “All that we do is because of God. I don’t want to take any credit that God deserves. I am just obedient to his word,” he said. “When we say we are a faith-based organisation, we really are. Our faith and trust in God are what sustains us when the going gets tough and the need exceeds what we have.”
Working alongside Masih and his wife are volunteers, including Pervez Gulzar of Cambodia and Ronell Ramruthan of Phoenix. Ramruthan said she heard about Masih on Facebook and quit her job to volunteer for six months, while Gulzar has been there for three months. “As you can see, we are a happy family here. The community has welcomed us,” Masih said.
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