Caravan Headed to Durban Meeting

Thousands of people in countless communities across southern Africa have been eagerly signing climate-justice petitions that the We Have Faith Caravan of about 200 young people, including three young Christian Reformed Church journalists, are going to bring to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa.

Riding in safari trucks, emblazoned with We Have Faith on the sides, they plan to arrive in Durban on Nov, 27 for a huge, faith-based rally and concert in Kings Park Stadium that will be hosted by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

The caravan itself, and especially the petitions, show that many “individuals are standing together to tell world leaders it’s time to open their eyes to the realities of extreme weather, water shortages and famine caused by atypical climate patterns in vulnerable regions ...” writes Ruth Terry, one of the CRC journalists, in a story on the We Have Faith website.

“Communities of faith are taking the lead in mobilizing support for effective policy and immediate action. Through the We Have Faith Caravan we are collecting climate-justice petitions at every stop on our month-long journey from Kenya to South Africa. You can sign the petition for climate justice online,” Terry writes.

Besides Terry, the CRC journalists are Karen Meyer, a photographer, and Ryan Geleyns, the videographer. The three are being sponsored by the Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Social Justice and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.

“This is absolutely a wonderful event. It is a true journey of exploration and solidarity,” says Peter VanderMeuelen, director of the CRC’s Office of Social Justice.

Meyer, the photographer, has been able to post photos she has taken along the way, showing children dancing, women at work, landscapes in Kenya, and young people signing the climate-justice petitions.

In her personal blog describing her journey, Meyer writes: “I cannot begin to describe how honored I am to be a part of something so important. To use the gifts God has given me to help his people, his creation. It is more then I could have ever asked for.”

Ryan Geleyns, the videographer, has written: “I hope to learn as much as I can in the short time I am in Africa. I look forward to challenging myself and allowing God to shape me through the diverse cultures I experience and the amazing people I’m meeting.”

The caravan left Nairobi, Kenya, in early November and will have traveled through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Dar-es-Salaam, and Lesotho, Swaziland, before reaching South Africa.

The road to Durban has, however, been challenging for the three CRC jouranlists. Accomodations have often been difficult, culture shock is around every turn, and outlets for transmitting photos, videos and stories have been limited.

At the same time, the journalists have been able to witness scenes that, they say, illustrate the purpose of their mission. They have seen parched, almost barren landscapes.

Also, on the way to the capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, they passed Mount Kilimanjaro, where, organizers of the caravan say, the snow cap is melting and flooding rivers.

They have also camped in places that will be etched in their memories for a long time.

“Last night we stayed at a lovely campsite called Chitimba Beach on Lake Malawi. With mountains in the background and pristine sandy beaches, it was really quite beautiful,” Ruth Terry writes.

By late last week, the caravan members arrived in Livingston, Zambia, where they were greeted by a large crowd with whom they march around the community. They then had hundreds of people sign the climate-justice petitions. The day closed when members of the caravan gave a concert, which also drew many people, including a government minister.

That night, the caravan camped out at Waterfront Campsite next to the Great Zambezi river. They were up and on the road well before dawn, on the way to Botswana.

As the carvan makes its way south over dusty, bumpy roads,along lakes and besides mountains, heading for South Africa, preparations for the We Have Faith Multi-faith Mass Rally and Concert in Durban's Kings Park Stadium on Sunday, November 27 are moving ahead.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu will lead the rally. He has urged South Africans to join world faith leaders, political leaders and music stars to attend the “extraordinary” mass rally and afternoon concert at the King’s Park Stadium.

Tutu will lead a call to world leaders attending the climate change talks in Durban, asking that they reach a fair and legally binding agreement to curb climate change.

“Apartheid seemed an overwhelming challenge that could not be defeated but we mobilized and defeated it. We need the same passion and determination to defeat climate change,” Tutu said in a news interview.

“Climate change is an even greater threat to us than apartheid was, because as temperatures rise, millions of Africans will be deprived of water and crops. This will cause enormous suffering. It is something we simply cannot allow."

At the rally, Tutu will hand over the petitions, gathered by those on the We Have Faith Caravan, to the climate change convention chair, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who has confirmed she will attend to receive them.

While members of the campaign say that they are aware that it is difficult to make an absolutely clear, scientific link between current weather events and climate change, they are nonethless convinced that the climate is changing and far too little has been done about it.

“The worst effects of climate change are manifest in Africa. They range from the well-publicized drought and famine in the Horn of Africa to lesser known internal and international migrations,” says a briefing paper by Kairos, a Canadian economic justice intiative. The paper will be distributed at the convention in Durbin.

“The majority of Africans, who bear very little responsibility for climate change, are being sacrificed for the comfort of an elite few,” says Kairos.

The idea behind the young people’s caravan is that the young are the ones who will inherit an earth, they say, that has not been treated with the kind of responsible stewardship God’s creation deserves.

Youth organizations across Africa and elsewhere formed the caravan to highlight what these young adults — although the issue is still being debated -- believe is a crucial environmental problem that has yet to be adequately addressed.

”This campaign gives a platform for us as youth to say that climate change is really affecting us. And this time, at the climate convention, we are saying it as one,” says a news release distributed by HWB Communications and Publicity Matters.