Help centre in race against time

By Martin Edwards
BBC News, London

The church has given Bronson Wright, 17, a new sense of direction

Bronson Wright had often found himself teetering on the edge of criminality.

That was until one day last year when he walked into the help centre of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) in Peckham, south-east London.

"This place has given me a sense of direction," said the 17-year-old from Peckham. "They taught me that you show what you want by what you do."

But the centre and the people it helps are running out of time.

The lease on the building in Rye Lane has almost run out and the landlord intends to sell.

'Reputation'

If congregants can raise a total of £1.6m by the end of the year, they can own the site they have called home since 1997.

They need to raise another £300,000 to carry on their work to help others, like they have Bronson.

Michael Dosunmu from Peckham, was shot to death in his home

Last year, he and some friends were targeted by a group of boys in Peckham.

"They asked me where I was from and who I knew so I started reeling off names of everybody I knew in the area," he said.

"My thinking was if I knew loads of people I would have reputation. If I had reputation I would have protection."

His would-be robbers phoned some of the people he named to ensure he was telling the truth before letting him go, though not without robbing his friends.

He said: "Three of us went back to someone's house and one of them got a knife and a gun and started waving it around.

"They were saying let's find those guys but I was thinking no way. That was the last straw for me."

But since joining the centre as an "assistant" Bronson has spoken to packed halls of other teenagers about his life - something he thought he could never do.

He has now gone to college and hopes to become a physiotherapist or PE teacher.

The church was first formed in 1997 under a small park shelter in Brazil

"This is not like a normal youth centre where you walk in and people are looking at you for a fight like the Damilola Taylor Centre," he said. "There's something different about this place."

The UCKG started life in a small park shelter in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro in 1977 by Pastor Edir Macedo.

His passion was to reach out to needy, less privileged people who were often excluded by established religions.

It has since expanded to 12 million members worldwide in more than 100 countries.

About 100 youths regularly attend the centre in Peckham at any one time, as well as about 300 adults.

'Violence and crime'

Services on offer include counselling, careers guidance, training programmes and mentoring.

"Many of them have come from troubled backgrounds living with violence and crime," said Bishop Renato Cardoso, Head of the UK UCKG.

"The evidence suggests we're having some success though there's a long way to go."

The centre has attracted much corporate support for its fundraising bid from the likes of Tesco, John Lewis, Nationwide, Next and Arsenal FC.

The Ben Nevis challenge was completed last month

Even the legendary footballer Pele has lent his support by signing a football t-shirt that subsequently raised more than £5,000 as part of a raffle.

And there was the small matter of 50 volunteers climbing Ben Nevis.

"Our guides had never seen 50 people climb the mountain without any of them turning back," said Charles Ihe who completed the climb.

"To see 50 people of different abilities who had never climbed a mountain before and make it to the top was unbelievable."

He said the centre is a valuable community resource which needs to stay open.

"Many people when they first came here were down and out," he said.

"Some were desperate, some had lost their businesses, all manner of things happened to them.

"But once they spoke to someone who was willing to hear their problems it gradually made things better."