Although our hope was to visit Robben Island, the site of the famous prison where Nelson Mandela and others were held captive, the Western Cape weatherman seemed to have other plans. We drove all morning through newborn street-rivers and monstrous winds that pounded down rain and shook our two vehicles. Belmont . . . meet Cape Town. Cape Town . . . meet winter. After a wonderful learning experience in a museum dedicated to those displaced in District Six and a few hours to eat and shop downtown at the Waterfront Plaza, a few of us music lovers took a tour of a local radio station.
CCFM was the first post-apartheid radio station in the entire country and therefore the first Christian one as well. Growing out of a wonderful idea by a local church trying to reach out into the community in 1992, the major adventure began. They had absolutely no kind of experience and no previous station to turn to for help. When inspired, anything is possible and it wasn’t long before they had the whole system built from the ground up.
Avril gave us a tour of the building and taught us about its inner-workings including the 140 volunteers and only five paid staff members who make it possible. They act as any normal station with local news, weather and traffic but they also offer ministry with positive and uplifting messages and a unique prayer hotline. One story described how a woman heard a powerful message at home and called in accepting Christ. The very next phone call was from her husband who was out in the garage with his radio, incredibly weary and tired of fighting so much with his wife. He too accepted Christ. Or, the story of a lady who pulled her car to a halt on a railroad crossing, just waiting for the next train to roll by and end her pain. She heard the broadcast and gave her life a second chance.
The station has done wonders throughout the community and is hoping to further expand their love for music and Christ, yet they currently do not have the qualified personnel or skills to do so, but Belmont does, and ideas have already begun to flow in my head and others like-minded. Our school, being the Harvard of the music industry and “the only [school] to ever visit!” was clearly sent here for a reason. Our resources in the music field are endless . . . just like the possibilities for helping this area grow.
By Chris Dorsey