Some people make me want to dance!

Working at Café Forever I get to meet some really interesting people. Just the other day I met somebody who had  in his past been the 6 times British wresting champion; he had dropped in for a cup of tea before he coached the Cubit Town Children in an after school club. He was an interesting man and seemed to believe that an answer to the problems of so many youngsters was sport. He was fanatical about sport and said it was something that ran throughout his family. I tend to agree with him, I think the kids spend too much time playing TV games with fake virtual characters and never get to really experience the struggle of sport, but it's of course not the full solution. I was watching a TV show this evening, the 'Food Hospital' and it showed a man who had lost 3 stone from 34.5! Quite a big change, but how long will it last, that's the big question, it's the question I asked the wrestling coach too, he admitted he didn't have an answer. I believe that we need to motivate each other on future things - a world renewed, where mourning, dieing, crying and pain are no longer the order of existence. When death has been swallowed up there will be no sting and hence no power to make us selfish. 

Another new face has come by too, a local chap who today told me that he had no longer any desire for wealth, that he had achieved all the possessions he had coveted as a youth, in fact his biggest desire is for a good nights sleep. The book of ecclesiastes Chapter 5:12 "The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep." He is an interesting man, I enjoy chatting with him, he has come up with some ideas to market Café Forever better, says we don't do enough. I would disagree for the following reason: He says he has lived on the Island for 6 years and has always known about us but never felt the need to visit. Now he is urging his customers to come, but they have the same attitude.

Every now and again something unique happens, you meet some people who bring a smile to you, they make me want to dance. Nasima, Lima and Iqra came in with sewing machines and Lima made a Kamees on the spot without any pattern while Iqra and I played hide and seek with a toy tiger. Brilliant! here's a little video clip.

ASDA redevelopment

ASDA parking lot from the Café office

Over the past few years there has been much discussion regarding the redevelopment of the ASDA site which Café Forever backs onto. The developers have visited Café Forever to show us what the changes will look like - it's still a bit of a rough idea, but it is getting nearer to a final design I think. The whole current ASDA building will be replaced with a new one where the picture is. The parking will be underground and above the ASDA will be some residential units, a number of which will be social housing so as to fit in with Government regulations. There will also be quite a number of big name shops like NEXT or H&M in the development as well as provision for small start up businesses. We all really like the plans, it will put some sort of a community centre right on our back door! We are interested in it and hope that we will be able to join in with the development if some miraculous financial provision is made for us. We often talk about the rebuilding of the café in dreamlike ways and envision a much bigger place - somewhere our church can grow, our children can be safe, we can hold kids clubs for more than 10 kids. Space on the island is at a premium. The Isle of Dogs population is expanding at a rate of about 1500 per year! and has been doing so for the past 4 years. That increase is projected to continue for the next 3 years. We are a very small team on the Isle of Dogs, on an average day about 4 or 5 of us in or around the café.  We need to be able to reach this population, but what we constantly find is that we are too few - the harvest is plentiful! We have begun serving food again this year and the sales are increasing (more sales = more visitors = more gospel opportunities) but it is a long way from making any sort of profit - not that that is our intention, but it would be nice to be somewhat self-sustaining; at least to cover our outgoings! Please think about how you can support our work, maybe not financially, but what about prayer or personally volunteering?