How it all began
This is the story ofthe Bishop Simeon Trust – the man who inspired it, the vision that developed it, and the partnerships that sustain it.
Simeon Nkoane was a young man of nineteen when in 1948 the Nationalists were elected to government in South Africa on an apartheid manifesto. He was educated at St Peter’s School in Johannesburg, where Trevor Huddleston taught other leading lights of black South Africa. He went from there to St Peter’s Theological College. In the mid 1950’s he arrived at Mirfield in England in order to test his vocation and subsequently became a member of the Community of the Resurrection.
In the 1960’s Simeon returned to South Africa, lecturing for a time at the theological college in Alice in the Eastern Cape. He went again to Johannesburg as priest of the township of Katlehong, and was then appointed to be Archdeacon of South Eastern Transvaal. He succeeded Desmond Tutu as Dean of Johannesburg, and when Desmond became Bishop of Johannesburg, Simeon became his assistant bishop with oversight for the south–eastern Transvaal – an area the size of Belgium. Both Tutu and Nkoane were deeply engaged in fighting the injustices of apartheid and bravely spoke out against the government, while doing all they could to care for the spiritual, material and educational welfare of their people.
These were dark and frightening days. Simeon, now living in Kwa–Thema, was constantly harassed by the agents of the state. His home was firebombed and he was on an assassination list.
In spite of his own personal danger Simeon was passionately concerned that something should be done about the young black people of South Africa who were so badly missing out on education.
He wrote to a friend in the UK "There is no doubt that an educated leadership will be crucial for South Africa in the future. The school crisis in the black townships is far more serious than many people realise."
THE FORMATION OF THE TRUST
It was in response to Simeon’s concerns that Judith Scott, Simeon’s friend in the south–west of England, formed the Devon Churches Support Group for South Africa and by raising funds and encouraging gifts in kind such as free educational places at schools and colleges, enabled the first young black South Africans to fulfil Bishop Simeon’s hopes of young leaders for a future democratic South Africa.
As the students multiplied and were scattered over the UK, support groups were set up to care for them and involvement gradually spread further afield.
After some years, a more structured approach was needed for the raising of funds and the monitoring of the way they were spent. It was at a meeting in London in 1988 with Bishop Simeon, Judith Scott and supporters, that the idea of the Trust was conceived. Simeon by this time was very seriously ill, and there was a sense of urgency about getting the project off the ground. Sadly Bishop Simeon died in 1989, but before his death it was possible to tell him that the Trust bearing his name had been properly and legally set up.
Perhaps surprisingly to some, the Trust’s Deed specifically prohibits the promotion of religion or religious education and is for the benefit of disadvantaged people where need is greatest.
Since 1989,
- Scholarships were donated by a significant number of public schools in the UK and youngsters were brought to the UK to continue with their disrupted education. (It was not possible to place South Africans in the government school system). Almost all of the students went on to tertiary education, supported by other trusts and foundations working for a democratic South Africa. On graduation all joined professions to build the new nation. Some teachers and doctors worked in deprived areas of the UK while supporting the Trust’s work at home.
- In 1992 a youth exchange with South Africans from the west of Johannesburg was initiated. As the first youth exchange to take place with the emerging new South Africa, it gained support from the Commonwealth Youth Exchange and provided a great dynamic for further support for BST in the UK.
- Following democratic elections in 1994, it was agreed that funds raised would be spent in South Africa and so our emphasis changed to supporting grassroots initiatives, in education, such as Saturday Schools, adult literacy, and teacher training.
- In 1998 Archbishop Desmond Tutu became a Patron of the Trust and working with other agencies delivering educational programmes, the Trust benefited from a campaign focusing on the future needs of South Africans – "It takes more than a vote to get over apartheid". This campaign, called the Living South Africa Memorial, merged with the Bishop Simeon Trust in 2003.
- Today Bishop Simeon Trust enjoys hearing from previous students doing their little bit of good in the new South Africa, as doctors, academics, journalists, community leaders and public servants.