Last week an unusual gathering took place in the remains of the old chapel at the Wilgespruit Fellowship Centre in Roodepoort, Johannesburg. The meeting may have been understated and out of sight, but to those present it felt like history was being brought back to life.
The Wilgespruit Fellowship Centre represented ubuntu in very practical ways, expressing its core values of ‘Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu: You are because I am, I am because you are’. That is why it seems inconceivable that what was once an oasis for people seeking peace and human rights will be.
The SA Council of Churches has pledged to fulfil Desmond Tutu’s wish that the Wilgespruit Fellowship Centre be developed into a Nobel Laureates Peace Park