News

On the 22nd April the world celebrated Earth Day an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The official theme for 2023 is “Invest In Our Planet”, and in response to this the Diocesan Environment Group of the Diocese of Cape Town launched a campaign calling all parishes to plant trees for the special day, either on the day, the Sunday or in the week thereafter. This campaign fell inline with the global Anglican Communion Forest initiative which seeks to significantly increase Anglican tree growing and landscape protection around the world and deepen care for creation within the life of the Church. So, through the Diocesan office a letter and registration pledge were sent out across the Diocese to have parishes sign up to choose a tree that they would like to plant. This initiative was supported by the Department of Environment, Forest and Fisheries who donated the trees for their new homes. There was a great response from churches for trees as 26 trees were ordered for collection while some churches opted to plant their own trees. Starting from the 17 April parishes were able to collect their trees from St Paul’s in Bree Street. There were a few options that churches could choose from White Karee, Cypress, and Spekboom. We are so grateful to Ann House at UCT and the Children’s Library in Philippi who also joined the initiative and planted trees.   A liturgy was also prepared by the Green Anglicans Office compiled by Rev Rachel Mash for clergy to use in the blessing of the tree before/or after planting. This served as a means of connecting the tree planting with our faith. Rev Isais and Rev Abigail could be seen blessing their trees before planting them in the week. We also saw the young people getting involved on the day with the children of St Michael’s All Angels and St Patrick’s Crawford creating artwork to commemorate the day. The young people of All Saints Lansdowne joined Rev Eugene in planting their spekboom in the rain as they were showered with a little bit of rain which never dampened their spirits.  We again just want to thank the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries for the donation of plants. To the parish of St Paul’s Bree Street which allowed us to use their hall as distribution centre for the tree collection. To all the parishes that pledged to plant a tree for Earth Day. What a blessing it is when we can give back to Mother Nature and take care of the Earth that God has granted us stewardship over. If you would in response to this initiative also still like to plant a tree in your church premises please contact Rev Shaun, the Diocesan Environmental Coordinator. John-Paul Roberts    

Earth Day Hike: A green Future is a prosperous Future!   The youth of St Michaels Church in Harare, Khayelitsha were challenged to learn more about nature and how to preserve it on an Earth Day hike 36 Young people including 4 leaders (Siliziwe Maka, Anele Maku, Solomzi Nyezi & Qhayiya Mjali)from the Parish of St. Michaels and All Angels,Harare took time to enjoy and appreciate nature on earth day by hiking Cecilia Forest via the waterfalls.The hike was a fun day and an educational event about naturing, appreciating and preserving nature. The young people took time walking and enjoying the beautiful scenery saroundend by trees, fresh air, beautiful waterfalls and beautiful Cape Town views. The weather was chilli with light rain which made the day even more beautiful. Our facilitator Solomzi Nyezi facilitated activities which engaged and educated the young people. Young people expressed that they would like to know more be more educated about how they could live their day to day lives preserving nature.  St. Michael’s is very grateful to Green Anglicans for the support. “We got to experience some peace and tranquility. The hike was fantastic and the view, the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful! The trail was much easier than expected.”this is some of the feed back from the young people. Hopefully in the future we will be more involved and active “green anglicans.” We worshipped God our Creator  through song, and the hike was also a reminder and a lesson about the journey of life and Young people were reminded to Keep on Moving“Life is, in a lot of different ways, like a long and challenging trail” As we trek the journey we call life, we, far too often, easily give up on our dreams and hopes, overwhelmed by challenges, disappointment or rejection. But on the hiking trail, you’ll learn that as long as you’re putting one foot in front of the other, you are getting somewhere”. by  Siliziwe Maka We are very grateful for the support of the United Thank Offering for this project of educating youth

On the 19th of March 2023 the Cape Town Diocesan YPM hosted a hike, Table Mountain. Where the motivation was to bring the Young people of the Diocese together. The hike event was attended by organisations with or under the Diocesan YPM structure also including the ANSOC of the 3 Universities in the Western Cape.  We received a homily from our Diocesan YPM Coordinator, Jesse Pastor in the Transfiguration passage, Matthew 17 V1-9, where we were reminded that whenever we face some challenges and tribulations as Young People it is important that we have some time alone.  The perfect place to gather yourself as a person is the mountain as you will get time to retreat and reboots to your full capacity, as Christ has demonstrated in many passages in the Gospels. It is indeed a reality that we as young people are dealing with a lot in our daily lives and being in peace and silence and connecting with nature is very important.  Such gathering are important for the young people so that we are able to distress from situations that we are facing and connect with ourselves. Fun was had, moments of laughter was shared on the journey of going up, for some it was the first time hiking, and it was not an easy journey however the support amongst the group was exceptional and as a result everyone made it without any injuries. Article by Sivenathi Mabena

After a Lent retreat reflecting on WORLD WATER DAY the Green Anglicans of Inhambane continued with our activity (restoration of Mangal on the Seaside of Chambone Mission).  Today the activity was attended by Ven. Micaias Caessa Diocesan Coordinator of Green Anglicans- Anglican Diocese of Inhambane and Bishop Emanuel Capeta-Provincial President of the Commission on Climate Change and Environment. So far we count 550 Mangrove  seedlings planted…. We continue to count on the collaboration and support of each of you! Provincial Coordinator of Green Anglicans Father Aurelio Uqueio Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs that grow in coastal areas in tropical and subtropical regions. They play a vital role in protecting our coastlines from erosion and  storm surges,. They also provide habitat and nursery grounds for many fish species and other marine life, including endangered species. Additionally, mangroves store carbon in their roots and sediments, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change. Overall, mangroves are essential for maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems and are important to many local communities who rely on them for their livelihoods. Depois de um Retiro Quaresmal refletindo sobre o DIA MUNDIAL DA ÁGUA (22/03), demos a continuidade com a nossa actividade (repovoamento do Mangal na Orla Marítima da Missão Chambone). Hoje a actividade contou com a presença do Ven. Micaias Caessa Coordenador Diocesano dos Anglicanos Verdes- Diocese Anglicana de Inhambane e do Bispo Emanuel Capeta-Presidente Provincial da Comissão das Mudanças Climáticas e Meio-Ambiente. Contabilizamos até este momento 550 mudas de Mangais já plantadas…. Continuamos a contar com a colaboração e apoio de cada um de vós! Coordenador Provincial dos Anglicanos Verdes Padre Uqueio

Cape Town was the first major city in the world to face ‘Day Zero’ when all the taps would be turned off. Since then the water situation has improved, as we were in a period of  La Niña induced heavy rains. However as we enter a cycle of El Niño lower rains are projected and Cape Town faces another period of reduced rains Another challenge is load shedding when the electricity is cut for up to eight hours a day. This is putting an enormous load on the sewage system, as the pumps cant work, leading to breakdowns and flooding. The situation is made worse by people dumping rubbish into the sewage system which blocks it The City held a “water and sanitation innovation indaba” calling for civil society to share ideas and innovations that could help solve some of these problems. Green Anglicans was invited to present to a panel of water experts their ideas around faith based education . There are 722 verses in the bible that talk about water, Christians are baptised by water, Muslims wash their hands for their five daily prayers. All religions hold water to be sacred. This is a great motivation for people to be better stewards, saving and harvesting water. Educational materials can be geared for the faith community, with scriptures , sermon ideas and prayers The panel was very interested in the proposed idea. Let us watch this space to see if the City takes it up!!