Rachel Mash

The Mothers Union Diocesan Council of Kimberley and Kuruman convened on the 9th September 2023 under the leadership and guidance of Diocesan President Mother Keobakile Rabotsho and MU Diocesan Chaplain Revd. OJ Dithejane ,respectively planted three trees at St Pauls Mothibistad, Kgalagadi Archdeaconry as a way to observe Arbor month, and the Season of creation. The trees planted symbolizes the Mothers’ Union anchor in God as even when swayed by wind and storms the trees remain anchored in our Lord Jesus Christ. The trees will form part of the Communion ForestBy : Diocesan MU Deputy President Mme TK Moeng Photo credit : Diocesan MU Secretary Mme Mother Z Daniels   #seasonofcreation #arborday #communionforest  

Thirteen members of the Climate Yes! (Youth Ecumenical Summit) are attending the African Climate Week in Nairobi. Four of our Regional leaders in Africa are already in Nairobi for the #AfricaClimateSummit23. Today, they represented us in the Pre Summit Faith Leaders Consultation meeting They attended the Pre – Summit Faith Leaders Consultation meeting convened by All Africa Conference of Churches in partnership with the Lutheran World Federation. They had a chance to present the Climate YES statement to 40 different stakeholders present – here is the statement https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cJmvdtujg5R4BpQKlNLKKAA8UDUxSG5z/viewthe meeting. Find out more about Climate Yes! here  – the Climate Youth Ecumenical Summit https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/161W2z_LfBdgMYwqq5eY_rlr5dwCq2gQX/edit#slide=id.p1 Images Climate Yes!

Anglican Students Federation celebrates 60 years! The Anglican Student Federation of Southern Africa held it’s 60th Provincial conference in Eswatini from the 27 till 30 July 2023 at Mphopho conference centre. The Anglican Environmental Network of Southern Africa ( Green Anglicans ) was invited to be part of this great celebration of students from across the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. On Saturday morning the conference was themed around care for creation, we opened the day with a beautiful morning eco devoation led by Bino Makhalanyane – Green Anglicans youth coordinator, with the students from Lesotho and North West. The message was based on  Ezekiel 47:1-12 , we are all called to be part of the flowing river, formed by unique raindrops representing each of us.  During our time together Mr. Dlamini from Eswatini Ministry of Tourism and Environment ( Climate department ) gave us a great presentation on the impacts of climate change on our livelihoods all over the SADC region. He also took time to  explain what Climate Change was and the role we each need to play when it comes to climate mitigation and adaptation. During the discussion on climate change the students made two important requests – firstly that different methods of fighting climate change should be  taught and publicised. Sometimes we think that the only thing we can do to fight climate change is to plant trees and we need to know about other actions we can take as well.   The second request was that  our governments should always see each church as a stakeholder at all levels of engagement from community to global and not only as a place to mobilise and market programmes. Ms Busiwa Dlamini from the Global Climate YES (Youth Ecumenical Summit)  movement shared with the students the importance of establishing campus eco networks, which allows for young people in that specific campus to have common goals. Issues of the environment affect us all and we can respond in many different ways – for example those in sports can teach children to swim as the floods so they are safe as flooding becomes worse, those in business studies can consider green entrepreneurship, those doing social work can consider the impact of rising food prices due to drought on people’s mental health. Engineering students can consider the adaptation of buildings and infrastructure needed to respond to the changing climate  If different groups focus on these different areas, then you can have a better reach to your peers, and this might also open up opportunities to join networks and Bino Makhalanyane closed the morning theme by unpacking what the Green Anglicans Movement  is all about and how the church in Southern Africa continues respond to the Anglican Communion’s Fifth Mark of  missions by “safeguarding God’s creation”. There  is a need for young people to be at the front of this battle as we are the generation which is being hit hard by climate change. The Green Anglicans would like to take these opportunity to thank Ms Basetsana Makena and her outgoing exco for the hard work they have done over the past four years and  also welcome the newly elected exco led Mr Tsobotsi Koloti.  Bino Makhalanyane  _ Green Anglicans Youth Coordinator We would like to thank the Anglican Overseas Aid for their suppor   t. 

The ACSA Season of Creation Manual is based on the Ecumenical Theme of “Let Rivers of Justice and Peace flow” and the image is of Elizabeth Wathuti, climate activist from Kenya.  She challenged the Bishops at the Lambeth Conference to do more for climate justice      

The Diocese of False Bay responded to the call made at Lambeth to take part in the Anglican Communion Forest by planting trees and restoring eco-systems by weaving this into the spiritual life of the church. The Environmental Coordinator of the Diocese, Rev Deon McDillon sourced trees from the Department of Forestry and Fisheries, so that every parish and chapelry could receive a tree to plant.   The tree can be planted on the church ground or a suitable place that will reflect our commitment to this call. Bishop Margaret blessed the trees before they were handed out to the different parishes. After Bishop Margaret blessed the trees, we discussed how emotional we both became. I thought it was because this was the Bishops last Chrism service before she retires but then we realised it was the Holy Spirit that moved us as we were doing something positive for the environment.   Rev Deon McDillon