Change Makers Design Shop- Green Anglicans

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s Environmental Network addresses environmental issues in the province by supporting churches and Dioceses with the goal of becoming eco-friendly and fulfilling Gods call to Earth Keeping, however this is not possible if we do not have a strategy to bring this vision to the churches.

Jonathan Hobosch and I attended the Change Makers Design shop, a week long workshop designing campaigns that will tackle all subjects that are undermining peace and environmental justice at the root in the context of Southern Africa.  One of the issues that we find as a challenge in ACSA is trailing down sustainable ways of living in our churches which include use of water and electricity as well as worship.

 The challenge of earth keeping within scripture and the reality of environmental factors is about understanding the injustice of depletion of natural resources in the country recognising the impact caused by churches.

Change Makers equipped us with skills and resources we can use to find solutions to our issues in the church. We were then able to draw up a diagram that will give us a guideline towards our goal, what needs aid as well as finding out why we need to bring change. 

Theory of change is a long process which includes outlining building blocks required to reach our goal and evaluate our mandate. At the end we realised all of this can be achieved if we are rooted in faith and shaped in scripture which specifies how we need to take care of creation.

Carbon Fast 2014

As Christians we are soon going to lent in literally a few days, as a norm, we give up something for the 40 days to honour the hardships our Lord Jesus went through as well as repenting. The 40 days require one to be at his humblest behaviour and constant prayer. Let us take part in a wonderful journey where we can cut down on our carbon footprint during lent. Join GreenAnglicas on Facebook for #CarbonFast2014

Makhonjwa Mountains

A natural Landmark that has been listed as one of World Heritage Site, Makhonjwa Mountains happens ring a bell, so I research only to discover that our forefathers lived there before. My clan name is Mamkhonjwa (female). Its exciting to know a bit of my history, how landed up in Eastern Cape is a story for another day.

I call my grandfather and ask how come we so far from our land and he says originally we are from Swaziland, meaning all the Dlamini's (Amakhonjwa) moved long time ago to SA and stayed in Mpumalanga and therefore the mountains were named after the Royal house.  They are a beautiful range of mountains with splendor of forestry and vegetation it calls for a visit.   They age 3.5 million years however They are so well preserved that their fossils faithfully record the earliest life forms on the planet as well as evidence of the first recorded massive meteorite impact. Come to Barberton for the most spectacular sceneries, over the mountain for picnic, and if the beauty does not hold you back too long, a trip to Songimvelo Nature Reserve. 

Anglican Week

Where would one begin after such an inspirational week? I consider myself blessed with prestigious quantity of information that you wouldn't just get on a normal day. I am grateful. The experience was worthwhile and more beneficial to me professionally, personally and it definitely strengthened my spiritual being. If day one is thought of being ill at ease, where everyone is quiet and trying to figure out who is who and how they are then it means we never had one, because we all clicked on the very moment we got there, by the time we got our name tags it was already too late. It only takes a smile to make relations; it gets even better when we have the same prospect. Diocese of Cape Town internship program was exciting though it required focus, dedication as well as promptness. I learnt so much about how we young people need to approach the world and troubles that we encounter on a daily basis more especially in church. We have quite a number of youth structures from parish level to provincial. However we are not aware of the need to prepare and encourage leaders on how they should approach spiritual and personal harms, to be able to counsel one another, protect and love. This is how the topic Group dynamics was introduced to us, a skill every young person has to acquire. It is apparent that we are unique and we need to appreciate that we are blessed with different characters’ to carry out a special purposes that God has placed within each of us, however we have something common, engaging in the word of God, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and to develop mature Christians not for the church only but for the society at large, thus we need to hold each other’s hands, communicate and be willing to learn and listen to one another. Read the full article :-) http://www.capetown.anglican.org/view.asp?ItemID=74&tname=tblComponent7&oname=Kidz%20/%20Youth&pg=front

Journey

The feeling behind a journey, the excitement that comes along the hope when you are about to vist the one’s you love the most. The journey of love and  hope. The imagination of the good time you about to have. The fun times that will go through history lane.  The tears shed when its time to leave. The heart that hearts whe you leave them back to reality. A journet brings happiness but leaves a broken heart.

MOST major brands have a social-media strategy aimed at consumers, and Facebook is seen as more effective than Twitter, according to a report released this week. Is Social Media taking corporate world by storm?

.http://www.bdlive.co.za/businesstimes/2012/10/07/big-brands-pitch-up-on-social-media

The weekend of a decade

(26/07/2012)

Time in life when you feel at your best with the best people, not just anyone but individuals you wish to have for the rest of life. I had that, I consider myself fortunate and blessed. Absolute fun, happiness and laughter. We all want to live like that but some people are sadly not to get those moments, which is why I had to say something about it, the appreciation and the joy flowing in my veins.

Being with friends is nothing new or rather unlikely, everyone has friends and they do the hanging out, but it depends who do you call friend for the sake of benefiting or for the sake of closure love and security?

These are my type of people I call friends, the ones that I had the best time with:

Khanyiso: my man, friend and brother, I have learnt a lot from you and am still in the verge of getting more. You bring the best out of me, the smile, the tears and a lot more. Considering what I have been through I do not want to go back to the life I lived before I met you.  You always make me feel bigger than my problems and I vouch to do the same. Your heart is very big and I fit perfectly fine, that’s why I always tell you am’ planning to keep you forever. You deserve all that you wish for in life and I pray you may be granted, I love u and it will remain like that for a long run

 

Zeni:  my beautiful, caring and loving sister.  You’re a living proof of real sisterhood; friendship is an understatement of what we have built. I believe you being part of my everyday life has made it easy for me to share all my heartaches, you know me better than everyone else. I do not remember a day having a clash with you, we have differences and preferences but you don’t make them rule in our life. You know exactly how to handle me and my drama. You hold the best part in my life and in my heart. May God bless you in bundles because you are worth it, keep smiling!

Siah: ok whenever you name comes I always laugh because that’s the reflection of you in my life. It means a lot to me, it’s not so long ago that we met but already I feel that you play a big part in my well being.  You have spoken to me in a way that I can rely on you whenever I need an advice or tip, life coach sort of, but anyways you have a way of making my issues  less stressful by showing me the other side of approaching them and they miraculously become  less heavier. Thank you for playing that part in my life and may our friendship grow a lot stronger in time. The laughs, keep them coming, and I will be happy.

 

You all play different important roles in my life. I value you that and yes we had a very beautiful weekend, lets do more of this it will only make us happier!