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LEARNING TO CARE FOR CREATION THROUGH FUN AND GAMES During the December holidays, churches in the Diocese of Cape Town run holiday clubs with the support of the Fikelela Aids project. The goal is to keep the kids safe while their parents are at work The Green Anglicans team visited two churches – St George’s Silvertown (40 kids)  and Church of the Reconciliation in Manenberg – a big group of over 150!. At both churches we had a chance to lead a session on Caring for Creation. Bino lead the session by teaching the kids the song  “Be green in the corner” which teaches us to be green and environmentally friendly.  An ice-breaker “the tree” showed them how to build a tree and  the importance of trees and how they provide for birds and for nest. Rev Mash talked about the importance of trees, which provide shade for us to play, food for birds, hold the soil to stop it being dusty, and can take pollution out of the air and give us oxygen. They also can cool down cities as we get hotter from climate change. She told the children then Bible says “the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations”. The kids were encouraged to give green gifts to their mums, dads and grannies, like a plant or a packet of seeds. We then played a game where we put stickers on the kids’ heads and they had to guess which animal they were. This was a lot of fun! Rev Mash then asked which animals lived in the oceans, or the rivers or the forests. The kids knew their stuff!  She then asked about which ones were endangered and told us about one of the sad stories. Turtles food is the squishy jelly fish. When they see a plastic bag floating they think it is a delicious jelly fish and they eat it. Their tummies become full of plastic and they die of hunger. The same with a cow when the cow eats plastic it can die of hunger as it’s stomach is full.. Plastic pollution in the rivers and  oceans was one of the main topics that was dealt with, from the harm it causes aquatic life to ways to safely dispose it. We then played a fun game – “active Pictionary” where the kids had to draw an object which we find in the rivers which should not be there – a chip packet, a straw, a coke bottle etc, and the other kids had to guess. We taught the kids that plastic kills fishes and others of God’s creatures. They can encourage their families and friends to pick up litter and throw plastic in the bin. We ended with a prayer -asking God to help us to look better after God’s Earth ,

GREEN ANGLICANS CONGO CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE SOIL The Green Anglicans of Katanga Diocese planted 200 trees  in the water company’s site with the objective of protecting the water table of the city of Lubumbashi.  Today in the city of Lubumbashi we are experiencing a water crisis because the population is cutting trees.  That’s why we chose the Kimilolo site for the sake of our city. Planting of trees also reduces erosion and protects the soil Jean Jacques Bukase

“YOU ARE MY GOD, DO NOT DELAY” FAITH COMMUNITIES AT #COP25 A faith based climate demonstration took place at the Climate Change Conference (COP25). Organized by the ACT Alliance, the event was intended to get the attention of delegates  and remind them that the climate crisis is a human rights issue and that lives are at stake. During the event, Christian climate observers from many countries joined together at the entrance hallway of the COP to read the stories of people on the front lines of climate injustice, say prayers, and sing songs. People stopped to watch, listen, take photos, and even sing along, with the climate activists representing Scotland, Chile, the US, Canada and many other countries. The event was comprised of songs, stories, and prayers. Especially powerful was  the stirring song “The People Gonna Rise Like the Water.” It was painful to hear the stories of devastation from across the globe. Archbishop Julio Murray of Panama led the prayers with Lowell Bliss, including a prayer based on Psalm 40 & Psalm 70– when in a time of great urgency David, like Daniel would afterwards, prayed “You are my God, do not delay.” “¡no te tardes, Dios mio!”  A strong delegation of Anglicans and Episcopalians is attending the COP 25 Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain. Archbishop Julio of Panama, Bishop Philip Huggins from Australia, Lynnaia Main (Episcopal Church UN office) Elizabeth Perry (Anglican Alliance) and Melanie Mullen (Care for Creation, TEC) are just some of those participating. The group has taken  part in discussions on a developing interfaith declaration and attended a faith-based side event on inspiring hope in a time of climate emergency.  And the group enjoyed a dinner together to build relations across the world Pray that the global community will stay within the 1.5 degrees of warming so that the people of Tuvalu can stay on their islands. Pray that developed countries take responsibility for their contributions for the climate crisis, and take greater action towards the solution. Pray for climate leaders to act courageously in their efforts. Pray for developing countries, who are dealing with the greatest impacts of the climate crisis while contributing the least. Pray to change the hearts of stakeholders in the fossil fuel industry, towards renewable energy resources. #renewourworld #COP25 Photos Lynnaia Main

Keep Lesotho Green #SoWhat Anglican Youth of Southern Africa hosted a three days( 28 November to 1 December) Cluster youth consultation in Maseru Lesotho. About 50 Youth came from the Dioceses of Lesotho, Free State, and Matlosane attended On Friday the 29th the Green Anglicans ran a workshop  titled “So What”. During this time members of the consultation  had to go  into groups and : identify environmental hazard zones and map them, using the problem tree show us the causes and impact (#so what?). This was to make the house aware that we always need to plan and see where the problem is coming from and how it impacts on our communities, a skill I learned at the Tearfund Movement building boot camp. On Saturday the 30th November 2019 with the help of the  Maseru local Municipality we went on to cleaning the  central  business area in town and during this time small informal  business  holders joined us as this is their area  , one of them  said ” We always thought church was just praying for the sick but today you brought hope to us as entrepreneurs a message that cleanliness is next to Godliness  we hoping to attract more customers now that our place is clean and blessed” . The business holders promised that in partnership with the local Municipality they shall keep the area clean. By B Makhalanyane: Green Anglicans Youth Coordinator Photo by: Ms.  Likhabiso koaeana and Ms Masisi Mabula

Cleaning up Trading Areas in Malawi Malawi Creation Care Network through Mponela Youth Club organised an Environmental March and a clean-up exercise at Mponela Trading Centre in Dowa Malawi on 30th November 2019. The aim of this exercise was to raise awareness to vendors around the trading centre to understand why littering is bad. In addition, it done to let vendors be responsible in disposing of their waste and keeping their surroundings clean, not just expecting city councils to do the work for them. They cleaned the along the drainage system to allow water to drain. The activity attracted more 200 youths around the trading centre. Charles Bakolo, Green Anglicans Coordinator , Malawi

IN THE DARK, SMALL LIGHTS ARE GATHERING “The light has come into the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it” Advent is a time when we must  look into  the dark . The headlines are screaming at us – “UN chief warns of point of no return on climate change” We are entering stormy seas and the future is fearful. And yet – look around you, on the stormy seas – small  lights are gathering .. “ Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.  In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.  We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn’t you say you were a believer? Didn’t you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn’t you ask for grace? Don’t you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?  Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.  What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.  One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these – to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.  Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do. There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate.  The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here. We were made for these time” By Clarissa Pinkola Estes American poet, post-trauma specialist and Jungian psychoanalyst, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves.