Saturday Morning at St Peter’s

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.
– Nelson Mandela

Anyone who comes in for kai will be served
with whatever we can share.
Equally and meaningfully.

They can’t make ends meet
or they are between ‘need’ and ‘okay’
or they just want to be together.
They want the company.
Young people, students,
or out of a job for a while.
They will be cared,

Sixty percent, seventy per cent
come regularly.
We recognise their needs,
and do the little gesture
to make it possible for another day or night

There are those who believe they are poor.
There are the greedy and the lazy
But it’s difficult.
We tell them this food is for the needy.
We don’t want to be judgemental.
But we don’t want our food wasted.

Are we doing good, or making people dependent?
This debate is constant.
Where do we draw a line?
Right or wrong, we go on

There may come a  day when we can’t continue.
So we  building knowledge to empower
and resilience to face the challenges..
We say, You have to do something for yourself
You can for starters plant a tomato in your room
to know that you can and you must

Over time, those who are queuing become volunteers.
They contribute; they have a sense of  fulfilment.

We are living in a time of food inequality.
We hope that a period of plenty will come
when food is shared, so all have enough
and all is balanced.

Manjit Grewal

Co-founded Ekta (Oneness) in 2017 as a migrant community’s multidimensional response to the needy in the city. The intention is to develop social cohesion and resilience of new ethnic migrants whilst addressing the issue of poverty. In St Peter’s Church we found the perfect setting to achieve these objectives.

Manjit Grewal