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CREATING A MANDELA GARDEN Youth leaders from St Timothy’s Factreton attended a “Care for Creation” workshop. They were inspired to do something practical at their church. Samantha Miles and her team decided to plant a Mandela Garden and the Church agreed to have a Care for our Creation outdoor service. Waterwise indigenous plants were donated by neighbouring parish St Stephens Pinelands, and blessed by Rev Joshua Abrahams at the Care for Creation Service Refreshments followed What a privilege to share our 67min to God’s creation Planting our new plants in our Mandela Garden is shining bright like a diamond! –  Photo credit Samantha Miles

Green Anglicans in Machakos Diocese, Kenya has taken another dimension it’s gone to the villages to inspire care for creation. On the 27th of October  they cleaned Ikalaasa town area and planted trees. They also made use of the opportunity to evangelise to the town dwellers. The diocesan Mission Coordinator together with the Administrative secretary was joined by clergy and Christians around the diocese for the full day of clean up. The event was organised by the DYO Rev. Simon Kavita

The Diocese of Swaziland held an event dealing with  invasive species in Hhohho region. The church and community members worked hard to pull up the invasive species. These alien plants use up a lot of water and do not allow the indigenous plants to grow. So one of the important lessons for creating drought resilient communities is to teach them to use invasive species for fire wood and leave indigenous trees to grow.  A wonderful outdoor service of celebration was held followed by snacks.

OUR HELP IS IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH – GREEN ANGLICANS HIKE On the 19th of October 2019, Green Anglicans had a hike at the Tygerberg nature reserve. 55 people in total attended the hike. The hike was lead by Neil Adams. The hike was 8kms long. There was a variety of age groups at the hike, from kids to teenagers to adults. During the hike Bino led us on a meditation on Psalm 124 “our help is in the name of the Lord, Maker of heaven and Earth”.   The mediation was mainly for reflecting on the year 2019, goals that we set ,achieved and failed to achieve. Bino highlighted that we should take our “failures” as challenges and not as the end of the road. Then we divided into pairs to pray one for the other. The hiking trail had different features such as a variety of plants and flowers, different types of birds. On the hike people saw egg shells and birds hunting for their prey. It was refreshing to be  at the nature reserve and appreciate Gods creation, the peaceful nature and the greenery at the mountain and surrounding area. Story – Tlou Mpai Photo credits Neil Adams

HAPPY TENTH BIRTHDAY DIOCESE OF KHAHLAMBA –  BE GREEN IN THE CORNER WHERE YOU ARE! Ten years ago the Diocese of Khahlamba was launched and a wonderful weekend of Celebrations was held. The day started with a fun walk and then people were invited to join a strenuous aerobics session – a good work out even as the day turned hot! Canon Rachel Mash was invited to address the Diocese on the theme of caring for creation. She first introduced us to our “Mother” Earth and explained how we must care for our Mother, for Mother Earth cares for us. We are abusing our Mother in the way we throw rubbish, make rivers dirty and cut down trees.  Gen 2:15 says “Work the earth and care for it” but we do not care for the Earth. The Green Team of the Diocese was introduced and led us in singing of “Be green in the corner where you are” We also said that if we believe in the God the creator then we should act like it “ Umntu okholwayo simbona ngezenzo – a believer should be seen by their works”. Actions can be tree planting, clean ups, vegetable gardening, pulling out alien plants, saving water etc. In the afternoon the activities continued with soccer and netball. An inter- archdeaconry competition of junior traditional dance, adults traditional dance and modern dance kept everybody entertained Archbishop Thabo and Mama Lungi joined the wonderful event and the Anniversary cake was cut. The visiting Bishop of Grahamstown blessed 60 trees and the Archbishop handed them to the archdeacons for distribution to the parishes. The celebrations continued with a beautiful Gala Dinner and a wonderful service on the Sunday with the Archbishop preaching to a completely packed Cathedral The confession for the day was: “Holy and merciful God, we confess that we have failed to honour you by rightly claiming our kinship with all your creatures. We have walked heavily on your earth, overused and wasted its resources, taken for granted its beauty and abundance, and treated its inhabitants unjustly, holding future generations hostage to our greed. Have mercy on us and forgive us our sin. Renew in us the resolve to keep and conserve your earth as you desire and intend, with grateful and compassionate hearts, through your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen” Halala Diocese of Khahlamba  – you are  truly being Green in the Corner where you are – and leading the way for other Dioceses!!

Anglican youth from four Dioceses – Mzimvubu, Mbashe, Mthatha and Khahlamba met for the Eastern Cape Youth Cluster from the 10th to 12th of October at the All Saints Cathedral Ngcobo. During the opening Eucharist service, Dean Fikizolo blessed a tree as a symbol of new beginnings for the youth of the Eastern Cape, the tree was later planted on the church grounds. During the day, the Green Anglicans team challenged delegates to respond to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba address to the Taize pilgrims at the closing Evening Prayer of the Pilgrimage of: Trust in Cape Town Archbishop which reads “Please, young people, don’t wait for the rest of us. Show us the way as you have always done. Show us what unity in action means. Show us what hope means. Show us what just economic relationships mean. Show us the way on climate justice. Show us that there is no Planet B. Show us that the poor will suffer most when water levels rise. Show us that serving Mammon will only lead to our destruction and that we should speak out on behalf of the trees and the birds and the animals. Ecological destruction is all around us and if we are not careful, we will soon not have enough fish all around us and clean air and clean water. Help us to defend and preserve this.” During this time, the young people from each Diocese acted out how mankind continue to cause harm to God’s creation and how the poor continue to suffer. Different groups were given a platform to act out different scenarios. Group one:  the messages that came was that, even during this time of water shortages , some people still continue to waste water for luxury use forgetting that, there are people who are less fortunate and rely on the same water being wasted for survival. Group two: The theme was air pollution, showing us how the poor living in air polluted areas continue to suffer as they catch all types of illness caused by the chemicals in the air and to make matters worse the public health system in our country is not really coping currently and loss of life is experienced. Group three shared an act based on a true story of how a family in Namibia lost a loved one during the draught, while trying to dig up a blowhole for water. T Group four – the  theme was on plastic and its harmful effects: because we continue to throw plastic all over and the fact plastic is not biodegradable , it harms the soil making it hard for those who depended on the land for survival due to low quality production, we also saw how people lose their livestock from eating plastic. From the different topics and themes that were covered, one can confidently attest that the young people are ready to save God’s creation and should be given the support needed for them to execute and implement this goal. Bino Makhalanyane