2nd Sunday in Lent
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environment
Recycle!!
Let there be no waste John 6:12 Make sure your office/school/church etc has a recycling bin and that it is collected.How can you best do this? Speak to the people in charge Whether it is the priest/church wardens or the principal at school, get approval from the people in charge Do a waste audit Have a look at what is coming through and what you want to recycle – paper/plastic/tins ? You might want to start with one item and then grow it. Have a green team It might only be two people, but find some other people to work with you on this project. Otherwise you might lose heart. Develop a plan You will need well marked bins but also need to work out who will pick up the recycling. Will volunteers drop it off, will you get a company to pick it up , will there be cost implications? Are the staff in charge of cleaning on board? (otherwise the nicely separated waste will go into one bin at the end of the day as it is less work!) Tell people about your successes! Recycling doesnt generate much income, but if you do get some, then use it to buy something that you can celebrate with others (Eg Sunday school christmas party ) let people know how many bags (you can average guess the number of kg) keep them motivated!! Common Challenges: Recycling gets contaminated with food: you will need to constantly be reminding people not put items contaminated with food into the recycling. in the early stages it is worth hovering over the bins until they get the idea! Smell, attracts flies: again it is important that people rinse the items well, and make sure you have storage and adequate bags to keep it moving away from the office/meeting space
The College of the Transfiguration is going Green!
The College of the Transfiguration is the only provincial residential college of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Under the leadership of the new rector Revd Dr Vicentia Kgabe, the College is committed to take up the challenge of the Fifth Mark of Anglican Mission, to sustain God’s Creation. As a practical step they have installed recycling bins so that the students, future Anglican clergy can make this a regular part of their lives and initiative recycling in their to which they are placed in the future.
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Namibia – “Hope and optimism in spite of present drought”
The Namibian Diocesan Environmental Conference took place at convent of the Holy Family at Onekwaya, about as far to the north of Namibia as you can get! We were greeted by the warm and hospitable Sister Gertrude who hails from Lesotho. The north of Namibia is in the grip of one of the worst recorded droughts. Families are struggling as their crops have failed and the government has encouraged people to slaughter their precious cows rather than let them starve to death. This has then flooded the market and dropped the price of beef. People wept as they came home with the tiny amount they were paid for a precious head of cattle. The environmental conference was organized by Fr Joseph Hanghome, Diocesan Environmental Coordinator, Fr Lasarus Ngube and Emmanuel Nakambale Although the numbers were small they were enthusiastic –with members from nine churches and four of the seven archdeaconries present. Rev Rachel Mash, provincial Environmental Coordinator shared the gospel call to respond to environmental challenges and climate change. Emmanuel Nakambale, a teacher gave us some statistics on global warming as well as practical hints on how to reduce our footprint. Rev Joseph shared ways to deal with solid waste. We had a wonderful practical session on farming led by Fr Lasarus, a passionate farmer who took us on a visit to the sisters vegetable garden. What a beautiful sea of green amongst the sandy desert!! They gave us vision and hope about what can be done. Namibia is faced with multiple challenges, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, drought and climate change. Litter blows in the wind and the children play amongst broken glass. And then the conference broke into groups to discuss how they would respond to the challenges. In response to deforestation they agreed to call on confirmation candidates to plant a tree. They also want to take up recycling and see how it can be used to raise funds for church use. Littering will be challenged as it is not caring for Gods sacred earth. The local archdeaconry committed itself to organizing an environmental conference… watch this space!! The Sunday saw a packed congregation at St Mary’s Odibo , reported to be the largest church in the Diocese! Rev Mash preached about the sacredness of God’s creation and how we often forget the first commandment – to care for Gods Earth (Gen 2:15). She gave an example which the congregation will not forget when she dumped a plastic bag of rubbish from the pulpit! We care when our holy church is filled with rubbish, yet we do not care when God’s sacred Earth is filled with junk! The children watched with wide eyes!! The service was filled with wonderful singing and especially Hymn 199 which said “the heavens declare the glory of the Lord” St Mary’s Odibo was also home to the famous artist John Mafuangejo, who studied there and several of his beautiful prints are on display at the archives run by Nancy Robson.
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#Anglican World responds to #fracking
An important article in the ‘Anglican World’ regarding fracking Anglican world article
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Garden of Hope
Many young people lose hope when they struggle to find work. But some young men from St Michaels church in Harare, Khayelitsha had a different vision, they decided to start an organic garden. They have cleaned a plot of land owned by the church which involved removing a lot of rubble and rubbish!