Living in a slum - for a good cause

Tough test - Peter Tryon and Del Thomas want to empathise with the homeless

by Michelle Archard - www.echo-news.co.uk

CHURCH members will be slumming it in a makeshift shelter, with only rice and lentils to eat - all in the name of charity.

For two days and two nights, five members of Southend Christian Fellowship will only have sleeping bags and the clothes they turn up in for warmth.

They will also face a walk to get water and have to carry it back to their slum in buckets.

The only luxuries will be a working toilet and a gas stove to heat their rations - two small meals a day.

Organiser Del Thomas, 25, said the group's rough couple of days were to show what some people had to go through.

He said: "We are doing this to raise awareness of poverty and the conditions at least one billion people worldwide have to endure every day.

"We also want to raise money for them through Soul Action, a Christian charity working with local people in slums in India, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

"I went out to South Africa with the charity in the summer and saw the type of poverty people live in."

Del, a teacher at Temple Sutton Primary, will be joined by youth worker Steve Dalley, 26, teaching assistant Jackie Rossi, 50, Southend High for Girls teacher Peter Tryon, 24, and assistant shop manager Jenn Burry, 20.

The group will arrive at the car park of Izod and Burnips store, in Southchurch Road, Southend, at 4pm on Friday, October 26.

Their first job will be to build a shelter from plastic sheeting and cardboard.

They will stay there until 1pm on Sunday, October 28, when they will host a celebratory lunch for any supporters who turn up.

The team must complete a number of challenges to receive two meals of rice and dhal a day.

However, the rules state if anyone turns up at the slum, the group have to offer them a meal.

This means the food could run out quickly because it is open to the public. Del said: "It will be really tough. We could end up very hungry by Sunday. The kebab shop just a short distance away will prove quite temping, I'm sure. But to live as poor people do, we must resist."

The event is being supported by Love Southend and local churches.

People can donate money to the project by clicking the Just Giving link below.

http://www.justgiving.com/delthomas