Ncumisa

          The Diocese of Natal’s annual environment workshop which takes place during the first week of November took place on 7 November.  A few bursaries were grantedfor some people travelling from Pietermaritzburg to stay overnight the night before.  This group of seven were accompanied by Sibu and Michelle (environment interns). The workshop officially started on Saturday morning with registration and a short meet and greets session were everyone introduced themselves. The programme got off to a good start with a green Eucharist lead by Bishop Tsietsi Seleoane and assisted by Archdeacon Andrew Manning. Thereafter our 1st guest speaker John Parkin from Durban Solid Waste (DSW) who informed us about landfill gases and how they have managed to successfully turn the Mariannhill landfill site into a conservative area  which generates usable gases from our general waste.  He stressed the need to separate or organic waste from recyclable goods for easy decompositions purposes. He was followed by Brent Coverdale from the KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife who gave us an insight into the importance of bio-diversity with “what’s all the fuss about?” He said that much of our natural heritage is venerable.  He stressed that it is not just the Big 5 is that are importance species in South Africa – we should also be concerned about, for example, our nation bird,  the Blue Crain,  which is found mainly in KZN.  He said that the depletion of our natural resources and wildlands are linked to the “golden arrow”. A short video from the Story of Stuff explained this golden arrow concept, which is essentially the problem of consumerism. Brent ended off with a few words of encouragement on how we as earthkeepers should be taking care of our bio-diversity; we should consider joining community groups or clubs to broaden our understanding of the concept of bio-diversity so as best enabling us to contribute to sustaining our wildlife. The interns took a different approach during their session – they focused on “mobilizing the church”.  The purpose of their presentation was to look at a personal journey of our spiritual connection with nature: looking at what interests us in becoming passionate about the environment.  Some are concerned about water conservation whilst others are interested in energy usage; others on waste management and climate change. With whatever interest you have how are you going to go about doing it for yourself with no expectation of reward at the end of it?  How you going to improve on it; telling your neighbor about it and eventually how can you invite the church in joining you in what you are doing? In the final talk which was led by Revd Andrew Manning on the Golden Calf of Consumerism, he presented to us how we as Christians have become part of turning the consumer world into an ideology and how the world has used our Holy Days for marketing purposes to “buy” as part of celebrating on these festivities. He also reminded us that we are not of this world and therefore we shouldn’t be living according to this world.  His talk encouraged us to change our mind set when it comes to consumerism that we need to think what we actually need rather than what the world wants as to need. Guys Caws equipped us with a book on environmental stories. He read a story from the book and said it could be used with Sunday schools in educating them in a creative way. The copies were made available to the group to take home and use. Information was given on the upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP 21) meeting in Paris (30 November – 11 December).   Details of the Durban Global Climate March were given.  Reports of the recent Midlands anti-fracking actions were also shared.  The recent Papal Encyclical, Laudato Si’, was also mentioned but there was no time to discuss it on any depth. Overall the workshop was once again a success; we would like to thank our guest speakers for availing themselves and being part of the workshop, the information that we have gathered from them was much appreciated and well set. Special thanks to the Vuleka Center at Botha’s Hill for hosting the workshop and the outstanding service they gave us.   Everyone’s input was greatly appreciated. And lastly we would like to thank the team that organized the event, including Andrew Warmback, Guy Caws, Rob Brien and Andrew Manning, for their effort and commitment.

The Anglican Students Federation hosted their annual chaplaincy conference in Benoni, Gauteng. With “Obedience to God commands” as the theme for the conference, it was important to pay attention to all commandments gave to humans. As spiritual leaders the chaplains really had to look at practical ways of getting the message and the commandments across to students. Green Anglicans was therefore present during the conference to assist clarify the very first commandment that was given to people to “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Gen 2:15.  In that spirit we had a long conversation about relationships between God, people and the land and what it means to our spiritual growth. With a number of theologians in the room the conversation grew deeper on how to engage the young people on care for creation as part a daily thing to do. After a very engaging deliberation everyone agreed that there needs to be more exposure to environmental activities and creation services, like having outdoor services every now and then. It was also agreed upon to use resources like the seasons of creation as often as possible so that it be a known resource across all universities.

Christchurch, Kenilworth in Cape Town was the scene of  great activity  and creativity over the last weekend of October. On the Friday evening a wonderful variety of stalls selling fresh, wholesome food to be enjoyed  while troubadours set the mood for an evening of relaxed entertainment. Later, a highly original presentation of music, poetry and drama was presented in the church, poetry, music, a rich mix of talents was displayed. All in all, a time to relax and share the gifts and fruits of Creation.   On the Saturday morning the focus shifted to “Learning Zone” with four  interactive talks focused on our environment: “Water in the Western Cape – the critical issues and a Christian response” – Kevin Winter “Climate Change” – Chris Jack “ Morality, oil, movement and space” – Lisa Kane “Christianity, Food, Environment  – the buck stops here” – Brendan Argent Here Mike Kane gives some feedback on the brilliant Saturday morning talks: “One potential risk of attending green talks on subjects such as climate change is that you can be bludgeoned into submission by a deluge of facts and figures. This was definitely not the case with the talks at the Green Fair on Water by Kevin Winter, Climate Change by Chris Jack, Transport by Lisa Kane and Food by Brendan Argent. I found each of the talks to be insightful, personal and very convincing. What stood out for me was that the speakers who are “experts” in their respective fields synthesized the mass of knowledge they have into personal interpretations of the key implications which were very accessible to us. They also spoke about how our faith provides the context and platform for our response to these challenges. Another risk of such talks is that you are left overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems and your seeming inability to do anything meaningful about it. However in this case each speaker gave practical examples from their own lives of how to make small contributions to making a difference in each of these areas. It was a privilege to benefit from their insights and using some of their suggestions we could as a community consider ways of facilitating and encouraging more coordinated responses to these real issues.”   Parallel sessions were run, there was the  ART FOR ALL workshop- With a variety of flowers and foliage, landscape photography and natural objects, to inspire you, those artistic at heart were able to spend the morning creating their own drawing or painting. And for those who are more creative with words than paints, Sally Argent hosted  A WRITER’S RESPONSE – based on a meditation around some object from the natural  world. The planned walk on the Liesbeek after church on Sunday  was shelved due to heavy rains, but if you had listened to Kevin Winters talk on the looming water crisis – then this was a cause for great rejoicing! What a wonderful , creative weekend. If we are made in the image of God, then we are co-creators with God. This weekend enabled us to share our gifts and creativity with God and to celebrate God’s beautiful world.