Martha Deacon’s Reflections
Personal Influences and the Connection with The Townships Project
On 10 June 2025 The United Church of Canada celebrates its 100th anniversary. Its glory days, measured in membership numbers, may be past, but it can proudly claim huge influence in the lives of many Canadians including myself.
Reading the June 2025 anniversary issue of Broadview magazine (successor to the United Church Observer), I marveled at the myriad positive influences in my life of United Church members and adherents. Former moderator, the Very Rev. Robert F. Smith, was pivotal in encouraging my commitment to found and stick with The Townships Project. Bob McClure, the church’s first lay moderator, was a hero of my youth and a revered friend in my adulthood: a missionary doctor who worked tirelessly and selflessly in China, Gaza, India and Zaire. The Very Rev. Lois Wilson, first female moderator, invited me to the 8th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1998 where The Townships Project was born. The Very Rev. Bruce MacLeod, another former moderator, was at that Assembly where we joined in welcoming a new family member into the world back in Toronto. Jocelyn Pritchard, an extraordinary church musician, United Church clergy wife and mother, accompanied me on that trip and was our most steadfast supporter and guide until her death in July 2024.
When I received the 100th Anniversary Issue of Broadview, I remembered the October 2004 issue which featured The Townships Project and Sibongile Ndubaza on its cover. Bongi was the young woman I met when I returned to South Africa in April, 1999 to set up our micro-lending operation. She became our first project manager. It seems appropriate to reproduce it in our website at this time. Over the years, many United Churches and their members across Canada have lent their support to this project. I am immensely grateful for that support and the continued inspiration it gives me and those we work with in South Africa. As you know, we are forging a new partnership with Rotary Clubs in South Africa. Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self” and it applies equally to supporters of The Townships Project.
Thanks to you all.
F. Martha Deacon,
Founder and CEO
