THE WAITERS UNION |
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By Jason BolsterIn West End, Brisbane, live Dave Andrews and the Waiters' Union. The Waiters' Union is a community network performing diverse social work on a minimal budget. They especially assist drug addicts, the homeless and mentally ill. Every fortnight, Dave drives to the local halfway houses to collect whoever wants to attend their 'Community Meal'. Inmates and 'normal' people mingle, share a meal and chat. They befriend many who may otherwise have no friends outside their asylums. Dave genuinely loves and respects each one. One couple invited many of them to their wedding. Bob, a carpenter, invited some to informal woodwork classes. It can take ten to fifteen years, but with love, prayer, and persistence, lives are transformed. They reject the social workers' notion that helpers should stay above their charges, be professional and withhold contact details. The Waiters' Union operates in people's houses. Needy locals must always know where to find help. A drug addict visited a home late one night, after getting in trouble with the police. They welcomed him in, discussed the situation, offered legal advice and let him sleep there. Another home took in a woman at 2 a.m., whose husband had bashed her. One home is for people awaiting Australian visas. One night, nine people stayed there, including Jason and Manon, who live there. Jason, Manon, and many others are passionate about Timor. At a military camp near Brisbane, Australians train Indonesians who commit atrocities in East Timor. Some Union members were arrested for trespassing while trying to establish a "Camp for Conscientious Objectors". They were sentenced to three days' gaol. They are often involved in issues of this kind. Several members attended a meeting on West End's Gentrification. They attended, not as a bloc, but as individuals, each with their own contribution. Aboriginal reconciliation is an issue they see as crucial for Australia's cultural and spiritual future. They work with local Murris to promote Aboriginal health, education and culture. Similarly, they work for human rights, global poverty and third world debt cancellation. They lobby for action, but never wait for politicians to start something they could do themselves. Whoever has an issue or an idea is empowered to act upon it. Ideas may be as simple as running a food co-op, or keeping chickens and sharing the eggs. At a Monday morning meeting, everyone his or her plans for the week. Each home gets a hand-written newsletter listing the week's activities. Everyone may then support, participate and pray for anything someone leads. Nobody leads the Union itself, though. They have neither structure nor bureaucracy. Everyone may simply act, rather than seeking approval. Hence, the needy can deal with people who are genuinely interested and concerned for their welfare; unlike public servants or charitable organisations, everyone knows their interest has nothing to do with quotas, status or reputation. No structure means there is mutual accountability, rather than a hierarchical accountability to an authority. Further, people are encouraged to reveal their deepest fears and hurts if they talk to a compassionate friend, especially if they can see their helper's weaknesses. They are committed to meeting each other's needs and spending themselves for each other. Everyone who can contribute talents, money, or possessions does so. Members voluntarily live with minimal possessions, without paid jobs, pooling resources and sharing costs. This also makes them peers of the people they help. Thus, they can give people a maximum amount of time to people. Dave spends all his time relating to people as equals, discerning what they need and helping them. He is a facilitator, not an initiator; instead of working, he enables people to work. With one woman, he needed to wait four years until she was ready to hear something she needed to mature. If anyone called him unproductive, he would be too humble to respond, although he could name possibly hundreds whose lives his philosophy has radically transformed. Dave calls their ideology "the visionary agenda of Jesus of Nazareth". To choose poverty over wealth and hardship over comfort; to be committed to unlimited availability for everyone else, at the cost of one's own privacy; to serve everyone except oneself: these are following Jesus' example and obeying his teaching. Imitating Jesus is the Waiters' Union's great passion, from which everything else flows. In a sense, nothing is done by the Waiters' Union, or in its name. Dinners, woodwork classes, meetings, arrests - individuals, who are Union members, do all these and more in Jesus name. The only proselytising occurs when people see their lives and relationships, and ask, "Why on earth do you live this way? What makes you do this?" They answer, "Jesus did this for us. We would do anything for him in return." |
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