It’s RSG Help, where we focus on well-being organizations, organizations that want to help and so on. And this afternoon on the line we have Tinus Lindeque. He is from Missions Ablaze. Tinus, afternoon, very welcome. Good afternoon Willem, how are you? Good and you? No, first class. And good morning to the listeners as well.
Missions Ablaze, I understand you’re in the Durban area?
That’s right, yes. Tongaat, the road next to the airport. Good. What is it that you do at Missions Ablaze? We are helping people who are in need. We started in 1978. We are 30 years old this year, 1995 we started. And we look at… what people need in our environment, which is less privileged. The time I started, 800,000 children went to sleep hungry every night. And that hit me hard. Yes, so, wait a minute. When you started these things, you say, there were already 800,000 children from where? Just in Durban, in Natal or what?
How did you get this statistic?
No, no, no. In the whole country, all over the country. Oh, I understand, I understand. And that statistic hit you in the eye and you realized you had to do something. That’s right, yes. Good. That was 1995, so you were involved from the start. You set up these missions and started Missions Ablaze. That’s right, yes.
Where did you get the name?
One day, I was a mission director at one of the big Pentecostal churches, and I came from work, and going to bed at night, and then I got the vision of the earth, with an eagle, with a Cross on top of it, and the name Missions Ablaze, and “We feed the poor.” And I said, well, thank you, I’ll have to take a look at it. And then that Monday, I went to see my senior pastor, and he said, my son, your missions organization become too big for the church. You should go on your own. And that’s when the Lord opened the door for me.
What were you doing at that point in your life?
What was I doing? I worked a lot in construction. I was a pastor. I had three churches before that. My goodness.
Are you still working on that? Or did you have to get busy with Missions Ablaze in full time?
No, full time with Missions Ablaze. From that time on? From that time on, yes. 30 years. Now you’re founder of this organization.
How do people come to hear about you?
Do they come to your door? Do you send them? Is it word of mouth? How does it start? Yes, you know, people think word of mouth is one of the good things. We have a web page. missionsablaze.org.za. People can go there and have a look. We’re also on Facebook. We have a Facebook page, Missions Ablaze. And a lot of people come into contact with us through those means.
So, what do you do on a day-to-day basis?
Take me through your day. If you wake up this morning, what do you live and wait for? If I wake up in the morning, the first thing is devotions. We come together. We have 20 people working together. We can’t do the work alone, it’s too much. They are happy with us, we have a lot of accommodation and everything we need. Everyone is full time, I am full time, my wife is full time. We come together, we have devotions in the morning and after devotions we have a board meeting where we all come together and we work out the tasks of the day. Who’s going to get the food pickup? Who’s going to deliver the food? Who’s going to fix the cars? Who’s going to make the gardens? And so on and so forth. Everything that needs to be done. And that is all worked out for that day. And then we have a 10 o’clock tea time, a 12 o’clock lunchtime. And then the afternoon, 4 o’clock, they’re done with the work. If the vehicle is still out on collections, we have to unload it after this time and take it away. We have a big fridge and a big freezer, everything is walk-in units. And then we make sure that it is not disposable. The next day, we sort out what is not suitable for people, those that are not suitable for people we donate to a pig farmer. Those that are suitable for us to give to people, we have 15 soup kitchens that we feed on a weekly basis. We have a few creches that we serve, old age homes and people on the streets, people who stand in the rain every day and we give them food.
Unbelievable. So you specialize in the collection and distribution of costs.
That’s right, yes. And it sounds like you’re doing a lot of work every day. So it’s creches, it’s old age homes, it’s a center for the homeless and so on. And is it just people who contacted you and said, listen, can’t you make a plan to come and deliver to us? Is that how it came about? No, it’s really like that. I can tell you, we have so many requests that are waiting. People say, how can you help us? We can only help so many people. You know, the more donations we get in, or the more help we get, the more we can do. Yes, yes. So this year, the last 30 years now, have you noticed that the need is becoming a bit lighter, or is it already getting worse? No, you know, what you’re saying is quite true. It has become lighter in certain places, but it also got worse in other instances. As if the poor became poorer, the rich became richer. Yes, that’s a world where you tend to die. So, Tinus, if people want to help you, you have now given your contact information.
What is it that you need? I assume food, groceries and so on. Specifically, what is it that you need?
Yes, let’s call it non-perishable goods. Clothes, people who help us financially, furniture, vehicles, even we have a few vehicles, old Volkswagens that we keep running, which have all done over 300,000 kilometers. We work on vehicles every day to keep them on the road. And it would be nice to get one or two new vehicles. That would help a lot, yes. Now if someone comes to you and says, I don’t have all these things, I don’t have money, I can’t donate a lot of money, but I’m a retired engineer, scientist or something like that. Can you make use of someone like that? Perfect, for sure. Or if they just come and say they want to help, can I help you for a few days, a week? Or can I come for a week? Can I come for a month? You know, anyone who says, listen, I can come and help, he’s welcome to come, yes.
So, 30 years ago, you came to your wife and said, listen, I’m going to do this thing full time.
What’s a personal impact does it have on a person’s life? Your family’s life?
Very big. Yeah, actually. You know, you give up your family, your children, your grandchildren. I have grandchildren, I have eight grandchildren. And you know you give up all of that. I left where I was, I moved, and I came down to start this in KwaZulu-Natal. And you gave up everything, and you start doing this work. But you know, the Lord called you, and because the Lord called you again. You are angels from heaven. People like you. So, these are non-negotiable products. Clothes that you need. Financial donations. Furniture. Is it furniture for you station, or furniture that you also share with these organizations? Yes, what is sharing with organizations?
We have two dormitories for the men and women, that can house 20 people each. We also have a building where we keep our services. We also have a dining room where people eat. We also have all the other places where we keep our groceries. So everything is good on a daily basis. You know, we don’t need a lot of things there. So if we get something, we always look for who needs it and then we take it for them.
What an operation. Tinus, it’s amazing. All the best for you. And may you go from strength to strength. Thank you very much. May the Lord be with you.
Thank you for having us Willem and RSG, rsg.co.za.
