Development Talk

A refugee girl in one of the tents used to house people displaced by xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2008. Photo: Development Works

Beautiful! Exquisite! Professional! Captivating! This is what everyone sang after a well-presented musical play by Lawrence House, a refugee children’s home, which forms part of the Scalabrini Centre’s welfare programmes.

The show, commemorating Lawrence House’s 5^th anniversary, was entitled “Mad Word” and was advertised by word of mouth. The “mad word” spread and it generated more than a hundred audience members.

While some disturbing incidences of xenophobia have flared up in South Africa after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and a number of foreign nationals have left their homes in fear, this show displayed the theme of unity and love and emphasised the importance of “a happy family”.

Formed in 2005, Lawrence House is dedicated specifically to the care of abandoned and unaccompanied refugee minors. Its motto is the Bible verse “I was a stranger and you accepted me”. The House and its separate teenager cottage can accommodate up to 30 children. Boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18 are taken in. Currently the House shelters children from Angola, DRC, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

We at Creative Consulting & Development Works are firm believers in equal rights and observing the Constitution of South Africa, that is why we have also worked with the NGO for refugees, Adonis Musati Project.

If children from different walks of life can come together and use their talents to put on such a wonderful show, why can’t we as adults bury our differences and work together as well?