Former boxer returns to help street kids
Former boxer returns to help street kids
Saturday, September 01, 2007
+ Enlarge this imageNewtown HART settlement residents with the members of the Rescue Mission Canada on Thursday night. Former boxer Isimeli Lesi is second from left at the back.
EVEN though some people migrate, they seldom forget their home country and this is true for former boxer Isimeli Lesi.
Now living and working in Canada, Lesi returned with a purpose — to win as many souls for Christ.
He arrived in Fiji this week and was happy to find another group — the Taxi Mission Fellowship was engaged in the mission he had envisioned and was working to save the souls of street kids.
He said during his glory days as a boxer, he was often praised for his achievements but when he lost the glory and started living in the streets, hardly anyone helped him or offered him help for a solution for his hardships.
Lesi said he would often be sitting on the streets when people would go to church but no one helped him and that’s something he wanted to do for the young people living on the streets of Suva.
The president of the Taxi Mission Fellowship, Saula Mosi, said they started their mission last year and it was not only to help street kids but also help taxi drivers by bringing them together for a worthy cause.
He said every Sunday, drivers involved in the mission would go out and pick street kids up for fellowship and breakfast.
When they started the Sunday fellowship and breakfast, Mr Mosi said, there were about 20 kids but now they had more than 60 and one of the most important changes was the attitude of the street kids because they became milder and started opening up and sharing their stories. Lesi said apart from street kids, they also visited families living in HART (Housing And Relief Trust) settlements and they would hold a three-day gospel concert at the Suva Civic Centre on September 6-8 where street kids would be guests.
He said the concert would feature local gospel artists and groups such as Sekope Raikoro, Dokidoki Gospel and Eagles Wings. Admission will be free.
He said the aim of the mission was to touch the lives of street kids, drug addicts and former prisoners as well as inmates. Lesi is planning to taking some of the boys to play club rugby in Canada. His brother is involved in that and he will return with two boys after this trip.
