In the third of five articles, Captain Jo Moir catches up with Colonel Yusak Tampai to find out how people are coping with the impact of climate change
Captain Jo Moir picture: Andrew King Photography
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N these weeks leading up to SelfDenial Sunday on 6 March, we’re hearing from people from around the world about how The Salvation Army is caring for creation and responding to climate change. This week Colonel Yusak Tampai, the territorial commander in Indonesia, highlights the Army’s work in that country. Indonesia, which is the fourth most populated country in the world after China, India and the USA, is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, as well as rising sea levels and shifts in rainfall patterns. The Salvation Army has been in Indonesia for more than 127 years and now has almost 48,000 soldiers in more than 300 corps and outposts. The territory also runs more than 100 schools, six hospitals and various clinics as well as children’s homes and older people’s care homes. HOW DOES THE CLIMATE AFFECT INDONESIA? The climate, in terms of the rain season and dry season, has not been
stable. Often we have longer rain seasons and the rain is much heavier compared with previous years. That causes lots of floods and landslides. Some of our own Army people have lost their lives because of these disasters. Army buildings and officers’ quarters have been damaged and corps people have had their property damaged. So most of our people understand the importance of caring for creation.
Indonesia has beautiful beaches, but they have been damaged by plastic in the sea WHAT PROGRAMMES AND PROJECTS ARE IN PLACE TO DEAL WITH THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE? One of a number of ways that we have been trying to deal with the impact of climate change is through education on environmentally friendly farming. We are initiating training through agriculture initiatives, informing people of the importance of running their farm in an environmentally friendly way. At the same time, in urban settings, there is the problem of rubbish. As a Church, we need to find ways of introducing how we manage rubbish better, so that, for example, people are more aware of the importance of handling plastics that may damage our sea. Indonesia has lots of beautiful
beaches, but they have been damaged by plastics in the sea. HOW CAN WE IN THE UK AND IRELAND PRAY FOR YOUR TERRITORY? I would suggest that you pray for the implementation of Vision 21/25, which has the theme ‘consecrated for mission beyond borders’. That means we would like to make sure that people’s consecration is emphasised and thought of – that discipleship, soldiership, is part of the focus for the territory. But at the same time we long to see The Salvation Army expanding to different islands and we are excited about that. We also want to move towards being a territory that is fully self-supported so that we are able to provide support for other territories less privileged than we are. That’s the sense of call that we have with Vision 21/25. O This article is based on a video that can be viewed at youtube.com/ salvationarmyvideo
CAPTAIN MOIR IS TERRITORIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
Next week Major Loraine Medina in Costa Rica
Salvationist 19 February 2022
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