Late last year, a young business couple in Musina were so touched by the dire need of the thousands of destitute people arriving from across South Africa’s northern border that they decided to do something about it.

They decided to help the helpless with at least one good meal per day.

Gary and Debbie Mitchell started dishing out food for the huge crowds gathering in the parking space in front of the municipal show grounds, where the mobile offices of Home Affairs’ refugee reception centre were situated. Thousands of people got stranded there, while awaiting first a place in the queue and after having been processed, then again waiting for the asylum seekers’ document, which would temporarily legalize their presence in South Africa.

Feeding all those people was a massive task. The numbers of the crowd of asylum seekers, mostly from Zimbabwe, at times swelled to an estimated 5 000. They were scattered, unorganized and without shelter in all parts of the show grounds and adjacent parking area and sidewalks.

How does one feed so many people? Where does one get the supplies and enough hands to prepare and serve it? Where does one serve it? How does one keep so many desperately hungry people from becoming an unruly mob?

None of these very pertinent questions daunted the young couple and their friends. Inspired by the scriptural injunction to assist those in need, they simply proceeded with what they had. They bought what they needed or got from members of their Agapé family church. When the young couple’s baby arrived, a friend, Tracey Mulville, got involved in the feeding operation.

Once they started and demonstrated their determination to keep the good work going, more help started to arrive. The Musina Municipality allowed them the usage of a large, well-fenced-in shed which used to accommodate the sheep and goats on the show grounds. The South African Red Cross offered them the usage of a mobile kitchen and occasional supplies of maize meal. Their congregation allowed them the usage of their public address system.

They employed 14 of the Zimbabwean refugees to assist in the cooking, serving and cleaning up of what became an impressively well-organized operation.

“Apart from providing food, we took it on ourselves to share the Gospel with these people,” says Gary. When everybody was assembled in the shed where the food was prepared and dished up, they shared an inspiring message and joined in gospel songs. “We soon found out that most of these people are already believers, hungry for fellowship.”

The gates to that part of the show grounds where the feeding shed is situated were opened at exactly five o’clock every afternoon. The big crowd which assembled at the gate entered in an orderly fashion and was seated on the ground below the shed, from where they filed past the service point where the food was dished out.

Although several church groups are in-volved in handing out food parcels and serving cooked meals in Musina and in Nancefield, the feeding project at the show grounds was by far the largest project of its kind in Musina, because of the massive crowd forced by circumstances to assemble there.

The project continued like it started - quietly and unobtrusively - a remarkable and enduring daily gift of love to “strangers, who are in fact our brothers and sisters.”

Since last week, the entire situation changed, however, when people were instructed to leave the show grounds. All their temporary shelters were destroyed and a massive removal operation ensued, while Home Affairs prepared to move their operation out of Musina to the military headquarters just south of the town. It is still uncertain how this move will affect the refugees and their care givers.