PASTOR Brian Wishart has been the village pastor and a volunteer social officer for the past 25 years.

He is the pastor attached to the Faith Apolostic Centre at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara, where he is also a resident.

Wishart told the Pepperpot Magazine that he is very involved in social work that has to do with domestic violence, child abuse in general and the welfare of families, since he is a professionally trained counsellor.

“I do more social work than actual church work because that is my passion and the high point of my true passion is education and children. So much so, I adopted three children from within this community, even though I have nine children of my own,” he admitted.

Selfless
Pastor Wishart adopted all three of the children when they were infants. Two are now 15 and 17 years old, while the third– his most recent adoption– is a six-year-old boy.
The father of 12 children –- nine of whom are his biological offspring— said when it comes to children and their welfare he is selfless and has opened his home to children, who are not his own and try to make them comfortable.

His daughter got married on Saturday last and that was the only way he told her she could leave home and she did not disappoint him.

“If people find the right things to do, they can make this place a better world by being selfless,” he said.

As a military-trained person, he has no problem with discipline which works well with his spiritual training as the village pastor and when combined they go hand in hand.

The Faith Apostolic Church has been around for 25 years and has a membership of about 100, most of whom are from the community.

Pastor Wishart stated that the church has an active Sunday School and a canteen and presently, the building is overcrowded and they would like to relocate to a bigger plot within the village, where they will have a parking lot and a home for children.

“Nothing is impossible with God. Over 25 years I got this church building which was built by members of this community without any loan, and I know we are going to achieve a lot,” Pastor Wishart said.

Children’s home

It is his vision to establish a home for children where they can be accommodated in a free zone and when they relocate to a bigger building, he will see that the existing edifice will house a day care centre, where phonics will be taught since the closest one is at Pearl, a neighbouring village.

“This is not a ‘bourgeois’ community, people here are from the grassroots level. Regular, honest folks, making a living, but if you know where we came from you would say we have developed over the years. I think the church played a part in bringing about this change because back then we had logies and huts for houses, and today we have bigger houses and the environment has been enhanced,” Pastor Wishart said.

Business input
Then, he related, Barama came into the picture and began employing people from the village and they were able to improve their lives.

Pastor Wishart told the Pepperpot Magazine that Land of Canaan is a place where people walk to work and back home because of the businesses like Gafoor’s in the community.

He stated that Gafoor’s has played a major role in employing residents.
“Recently Mr Gafoor called me to say I should identify 50 persons since he wants to donate 50 bicycles to assist children whose parents are financially unstable. The bicycle he said would assist the children in getting to and from school. I commend him for that; names were given and the bicycles will be handed over soon,” he said.

He noted that Barama Company has contributed to development of the people as well; upon his request the company donated plywood to residents to assist in the construction of houses.

Pastor Wishart told the Pepperpot Magazine that recently the Old Road, Land of Canaan was paved and internal streets were re-surfaced.

“Matter of fact, the residents installed their own posts, light and water then the authorities came in to make it legal. The whole place was named ‘Egypt’; back then it was …widespread poverty and it was a ghetto. As such, the stigma was attached to the village and it was painted as a ‘bad place,’ but things have changed for the better,” the pastor said.