SOUTH AFRICA: Archbishop visits storm-drenched communities, pledges support
Episcopal News Service. March 3, 2009 [030309-03]
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town has visited scenes of flooding in Soweto, and sent messages of support to areas of KwaZulu Natal where heavy storms have caused fatalities and mass destruction.
Makgoba, primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, said he was shocked at the scale of the damage, and assured those he met of his prayers and the support of the Anglican church, including financial aid through its relief and social development organization, Hope Africa.
The archbishop spoke of the need for greater sensitivity to the environment, at every level from national government to local community planning, pointing out that many factors from the disappearance of wetlands to the concentrations of urban developments can contribute to greatly increased risks of flooding, even from normal volumes of rainfall. He added that human responsibility -- "a God-given gift, which we must choose to use wisely" -- was relevant in South Africa too, and not only in the wider problem of global warming and climate change.
In messages to Bishop Brian Germond of Johannesburg and Bishop Rubin Philip of Natal, Makgoba said: "On behalf of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, I offer our condolences to those who have lost loved ones. They, and all who have been injured, and who have lost homes and livelihoods through these storms and flooding, are in our hearts, and in our prayers. In the days ahead, may they find comfort and strength in the promise of Jesus that he is with us always, and that nothing, not in life nor in death, can separate us from the love of God."
The archbishop added, "I encourage our churches and parishioners to offer what help they can -- remembering the words of Jesus, that we shall all be called to give account of whether we have fed the hungry and cared for the needy."
He also called on governments and local authorities concerned to take the necessary steps toward providing both immediate help and longer term resources for reconstruction, while bearing in mind issues of environmental sensitivity and sustainability. "The whole world must urgently recognize that this is God's creation. We have no other. It is for all of us to treat it with respect, and hold it in trust for the generations that come after us," he said.