Young Catholics in Africa gather to care for creation Guest post by Allen Ottaro

“Young Catholics in Africa, Caring for Creation!” This is the slogan that kept ringing out for one week when twenty young Catholics from 6 African countries (Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya) gathered in Nairobi for the Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa (CYNESA) Summit 2014.

It was the first time the CYNESA leaders were gathering since the beginnings of CYNESA in late 2011, during which period the team was in contact through cyber space, as well as united in prayer and our common vision.

The summit provided the space to concretely define that common vision, to celebrate the "birthday" of CYNESA and to draw wisdom and encouragement from the words of our shepherds and invited speakers representing faith based environmental organizations.

The Bishop of Murang’a and Chairman of the Commission for Pastoral and Lay Apostolate at the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, His Lordship Rt. Rev. James Maria Wainaina, officiated at the opening of the summit and a short ceremony to officially launch CYNESA.

Bishop Wainaina has been instrumental in leading the pastoral initiatives of the Church in caring for creation, including the preparation of a pastoral plan for the Church in Kenya on the environment. His presence at our Summit was further testimony of his commitment to encouraging and supporting Catholic faithful to respond to their ecological vocation.

The five-day Summit evolved in four main stages: Storytelling, Visioning, Action planning, and Missioning.

Storytelling is an important part of many societies. In Africa, customs and traditions were passed on from one generation to the next through storytelling. Young people would usually gather around a fire to listen to their elders and learn important life skills. Through storytelling, participants at our Summit were invited to share their "CYNESA journey"—their earliest memories of nature, all the way to their first contact with CYNESA leading to their presence at the Summit. Our colleague and Programs Manager, David Ngigi Munene, led a session our collective two-year CYNESA story was shared. This was also an important time of reflection and thanksgiving for all the wonderful gifts received and the challenges and lessons that we have learnt from.

The visioning stage offered participants the opportunity to work individually and in regional groups to develop their personal and collective vision for our network. During this stage we also had the opportunity to interact with Mr. David Lagat, an invited speaker from Care of Creation Kenya, on the theme, “Why Young People should Care for Creation”. Mr. Lagat suggested to the participants to take advantage of their youthfulness to “understand the gravity of the environmental crisis in Africa, understand their stewardship role and exert more effort towards effecting attitude and behavior change”.

The common thread running through the feedback from the participants and groups that struck me was the strong desire to reach out to more young people in Africa, inviting them to be part of our growing network, through formation, action and evaluation.

A good foundation had now been laid during the storytelling and visioning stages for the hard work of action planning. Activities have to be done at the local level and therefore the action planning was executed in national and regional groups. This process was guided by a reflection on the needs in our communities, an analysis of the resources already available to us and how to build relationships with people and organizations already working to care for creation. We also had the honor of a guest speaker from Canada, Dr. Peter Denton, who had just arrived in Nairobi to participate in the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA), representing the United Church of Canada where he is an ordained minister.

Dr. Denton is also a regional representative for North America of the Major Groups and Stakeholders, to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Participants found his insights to be very helpful for their action planning process, especially when he challenged us to shift our world view where the economic value of things takes precedence and that, “If we see things as ecology rather than economy, we would not be in a position where we say, ‘we can’t afford to save the environment’”.

While there was a great variety of suggested activities for the different countries represented, formation of young people in Catholic social teaching on care of creation at parish level, communicating the need for care of creation through music, poetry and social media and building collaboration between different actors in environmental work were the common themes that cut across the action planning outcome. One interesting suggestion was the proposal to have a presence at the next World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, as a way to reach out to young people not just from Africa, but the whole world, and paying homage to Saint John Paul II.

The conclusion of the Summit marked an important step in the CYNESA journey, the beginning of a journey of faith working towards what Saint John Paul II referred to as ‘ecological conversion’, a theme which his predecessors, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have developed. It was therefore quite fitting that the missioning of participants was done by the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan, His Excellency Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo.

The Archbishop noted that the Summit and its outcomes was coming at a very important time when the Church is increasing its visibility in caring for creation through its teaching and through various initiatives. In his remarks, he encouraged participants to take advantage of modern communication available to them, such as social media, to reach out to more young people in Africa and expressed hope that CYNESA will have a presence in many more African countries in coming months and years.

Participants have now returned to their countries ready to share the energy, enthusiasm and inspiration drawn from their five days in Nairobi at the CYNESA Summit 2014.

We will share with you their progress, successes and challenges in coming months and ask for your prayers for the success of this mission.

Allen Ottaro lives in Nairobi, Kenya, where he is a parishioner at St. Paul’s Catholic University Chapel in the Archdiocese of Nairobi and is the national coordinator of MAGIS Kenya. He is also a co-founder of the Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa.

Photo: Flicker/Gunther Wegner