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Climate Yes! The Vision for the Climate Yes! (youth ecumenical summit on the Climate) was born at COP26 when young faith climate activists saw the need to network and strengthen each other. The idea was created to hold an international event with hubs in different places and others coming on board online The African hubs were held at Joburg, Lilongwe (Malawi) and Nairobi, with about 100 young faith activists from 14 different countries attending They travelled for far, some as long as two days by bus in order to be part of the event. The Johannesburg hub, with reps from South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique started the event with a Season of Creation Service. The theme was the burning bush which challenges us in three ways: Firstly – where you are standing is holy – we need to fall in love with Creation, you will not protect what you do not love , remember that God speaks through creation, give yourselves time in nature and listen the voice of God Secondly God hears the cry of the oppressed. We will be sharing stories of the impact of Climate change, for those of us who are more protected, living in cities do we hear the cry of those who are losing their homes, their crops, their schools and livelihoods? Thirdly God says I am sending you. You may feel that you are too young, or too shy or don’t have the academic knowledge to talk of climate change But this is God’s mission, not ours, God sends us! This was followed by a bible study from Bishop Zac on the theme of ‘Creation flourishing” The Climate Yes! was launched and blessed by Bishop Vicentia Kgabe of Lesotho Then we heard about reforestation from Malawi and Zimbabwe over to impacts of climate change on Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi and ended the day with a fun Cultural Evening! Day two continued with another Bible study by Bishop Zac on the theme of “Creation Groaning”. We then looked at the  impact of Fossil fuels in Africa: ReconAfrica Namibia, EACOP Uganda and Total in Mozambique. We had a challenging message from Prof Beckford on Environmental racism and a workshop from Christian Aid on Advocacy. Then we shared inspiring Stories of Christian Climate action from the different countries and denominations. These were followed by discussion questions to be included in the Statement and Action plans Thanks to Liko Qokela for the great photos! #climateyes With great appreciation for the support of Anglican Overseas Aid Tearfund Scottish Episcopal Church Marc Andrus Christian Aid #seasonofcreation

ANGLICAN YOUTH GUILD OF MTHATHA GROWING THE LAMBETH COMMUNION FOREST The Anglican Youth Guild of the Diocese of Mthatha held their annual Conference with Youth From False bay, Khahlamba, Mbashe and Mzimvubu present They celebrated Heritage Day with wonderful traditional clothing! Bonginkosi (Bongs ) White from the Diocesan Environmental Desk was invited to talk about the Communion Forest as it was declared in the Lambeth Conference, importance of trees in our environment, Recycling and Water Conservation Here he is pictured with the members of the Diocesan Executive of the Anglican Youth Guild in the Diocese of Mthatha. They planted two Palm Trees to form part of the Communion Forest Photos – Anglican Diocese of Mthatha Official #communionforest

Young people in Cape Town celebrate the Ecumenical Spirit of the #seasonofcreation The season of creation is a yearly celebration which takes place from the 1st of September until St. Francis day on the 4th of October. During this time churches from across the world come together in celebration and appreciation of God’s creation.  Since 2020 the ecumenical group of young believers called Together4Creation have organised a special service on the 1st of September. This year the event was held at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cape Town. The theme for this years’ service was “Listen to the Voice of Creation” focussing on the Exodus 3 narrative of the burning bush.  The main speaker for the evening was Pastor Sybil Chetty who reflected on the impact of greed and over consumption on the environment. Proceedings also included group discussions and a meet-and-greet afterwards. The event epitomises the spirit of young believers and the steadfast conviction that we can only make a difference if we work together. Dewald Hoffman #seasonofcreation

SEASON OF CREATION IN KRUGERSDORP   St Peter’s in  Krugersdorp celebrated  the Season of Creation for  two consecutive Sundays outside. The parish has been serving God’s people for the past 117 years.Parishioners were encouraged to inhale the fresh air and view the plants, trees and flowers around them in the church garden. The weather was in our favour, and it was truly blessed to experience outside service indicated by some of the parishioners. #seasonofcreation Revd Nicolette Segeel.      

The All Saints Primary school of All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi celebrated Clean Air day by planting fifty trees. Their speaker was Liz Wathuti , founder of Green Generation Initiative. Present was Rev Zadock Mission Director All Saints Cathedral Diocese . Photos Green Anglicans Movement of Kenya #worldcleeanair #communionforest #seasonofcreation

As Green Anglicans, in celebration of Season of Creation which we celebrated on the 3rd of September 2022, we had hiking at Khalinyanga Mountain, eNgcobo. We chose to climb the mountain where our help will come from, where we would surrender all and let God to be in control of our predicaments and give us strength to be altruistic when it comes to Mother Earth and nature. In accord with the theme “ listen to the voice of creation”, in the middle of the mountain we assembled and prayed for climate change, our communities, the poor, livelihoods affected by habitat distraction and primarily prayed for Mother Earth. As we all climbed we had our burdens, we also individually prayed for ourselves.     We headed to the top of the Mountain, where we had Eucharist Service executed by AYSA chaplain Rev.Msengana in assistance of Rev. N. Mlunguza. Upon the Anglicans we had in our hike, we had children and youth ministry leaders belonging to Mother’s Union, BMMG and St Mary Magdalene. We also had more clergy and people belonging in other religious structures who are not within the Anglican Church. Mrs. Stemele the ward Councilor was also there to share words of wisdom and encouragement before we departed from the meeting point. Mercifully, we had an Environmental Science graduate from our Diocese, who emboldened us to precisely look out of nature, she shared some significance of doing so, that:  It is where we get our resources  It is our moral of obligation  It is a way to give back, as almost everything we get it from nature.  We have to take care of it for future generations  What we do to nature affects ourselves so we have to look after it.  She also encouraged us to consider going for environmental studies as we will not be doing for only ourselves but also for Mother Earth. by:  Anglican Youth of Southern Africa, Diocese of Mbhashe Balekile Anesipho, Secretary photo credit: khanyiso mkhabile  With Appreciation for the @unitedthankoffering