War Cry 30 October 2021

Bees and trees in the Democratic Republic of Congo

WAR CRY

30 October 2021 50p

What in the world?

Cop26, climate concerns and calls for action in our down-to-Earth issue

‘I’m a climate scientist because I’m a Christian’

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.

What is the War Cry? The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

WAR CRY Issue No 7549

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Tel: 0845 634 0101 Helpline: 020 7367 4888 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies Published weekly by The Salvation Army © The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

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INFO Your local Salvation Army centre

2 • WAR CRY • 30 October 2021

AN environmental summit is not about to start in Glasgow – that is to say, Cop26 is not just an environmental summit. This week’s War Cry features a variety of people talking about climate change, yet one idea keeps recurring.

In an interview in this issue, Canadian scientist Katharine Hayhoe describes how she had been planning to become an astrophysicist before she took an eye-opening university class on climate science.

‘I had always thought of climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation and air pollution as environmental issues that people like Sir David Attenborough and Jane Goodall worked on while the rest of us just wished them well,’ she says. ‘But in that class I learnt that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but also a health issue, an economic issue, an issue of food and water and, most of all, a humanitarian issue. It affects the poorest and most vulnerable people.’

The Salvation Army’s UK-based international development team is seeing the effects of climate change on people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is supporting projects to help communities. Team member Violet Ruria tells us that weather patterns have been disrupted, which ‘is problematic, as farmers are only really able to plant with regular rainfall’.

Rachel Mander, who has helped to co-ordinate a Young Christian Climate Network relay walk to Glasgow, is concerned at the way climate change is causing countries to take on more debt.

Katharine, Violet, Rachel and others featured in this issue share another perspective. It’s one they have in common with other Christians the world over – and which is echoed in The Salvation Army’s newly published official viewpoint on the environment.

‘The Salvation Army believes people are made in the image of God,’ it says. ‘He has entrusted us to reflect his personality by caring for the Earth and everything in it.’

God cares for us all. The Salvation Army statement also describes environmental ad the War C degradation as ‘affecting us all’. e re ry v ’ u We are all invited to join those who are doing all they can to fix it.

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Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

From the editor’s desk

When yo

What is The Salvation Army?

CONTENTS 4 8

FEATURES

3

Global events

Countdown to Cop26

4

Pilgrims farther

Young activists stage relay walk

6

Money to burn?

Campaign encourages divestment from

fossil fuels

8

‘Each of us has a role to play’

Scientist on fixing the climate crisis

12 Bee here now

12

Honey and forestry in the DRC

REGULARS

14 Puzzles 15 War Cry Kitchen

w o r e l h d t s i t a h W ing to?

m o c

Nations gather at Cop26 to address the global effects of climate change Report by Claire Brine

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OR a long time, scientists have been warning that the world is at a critical climate tipping point. For a long time, the world has been slow to acknowledge that they are right. But when global leaders meet at Cop26, which begins tomorrow (Sunday 31 October), people from all corners of the planet will be hoping for positive action – and lifelong change.

Over nearly 30 years, Cops – or ‘Conferences of the Parties’ – have brought together international governments, NGOs and businesses to tackle climate change.

As the parties gather together for their 26th event, hosted by the UK at the SEC in Glasgow, they intend to review past efforts and commit themselves to future action.

Even before world leaders and government representatives begin discussing their ideas on how to protect the planet, the UK Cop26 team have outlined four goals.

The first is that the world needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to ensure global temperatures stop rising and keep a target of 1.5C of warming within reach.

Secondly, it must adapt to protect communities and natural habitats from the damaging effects of climate change.

The third goal is for countries and financial institutions to ensure that there is enough money in the global purse to achieve such goals.

Lastly, people must recognise the need of working together if change is to become possible.

The idea that collaboration is key when it comes to the climate crisis has also been picked up by faith leaders across the UK. In the countdown to Cop26, leaders from Christian

churches and representatives from other faiths – including Islam, Judaism and Sikhism – united to sign a declaration, urging governments to take the action necessary to ‘avert the loss, damage, and forced migration threatened by climate change’.

The signatories also promised to reflect ‘deeply in prayer, meditation and worship to discern how to care for the Earth and each other’, despite ‘doctrinal and political differences’.

The Bishop of Norwich, the Right Rev Graham Usher, commented on why it was important for faith groups to work together, saying: ‘We are drawing on the wells of wisdom within our traditions to encourage the leaders of the world to take the bold, prophetic steps we all need to take.’

In the Christian tradition, humankind has been given responsibility for the health of the planet. Shortly after describing the Creation, the first book of the Bible says: ‘The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2:15 New International Version).

Perhaps in our lifetimes, a focus on working the planet has eclipsed looking after it. But God’s intention was for people to do both.

He created a world rich in resources and full of beauty because he wanted us to experience it. His world is a gift given out of love for us.

But to enjoy fully what the Earth has to offer, we need to protect and nurture the natural world and the life that God entrusted to us. Only then can we hope to make a world of difference.

Humankind has been given responsibility

30 October 2021 • WAR CRY • 3

Walkers take steps to bring about climate justice A group of young Christians, with their giant handmade boat, will arrive in Glasgow today (Saturday 30 October) as they complete the final stretch of their 1,200-mile relay journey, which began in Cornwall in June. Co-leader of the relay RACHEL MANDER explains why she and her fellow pilgrims decided to campaign for a just future Interview by Linda McTurk

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HE young pilgrims have made progress. Since June, they and some 2,000 walkers have trekked different legs of a relay of 1,200 miles from Cornwall to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow. Alongside them has been The Pilgrim, a giant handmade boat that symbolises their aim to convince world leaders ‘to set sail towards a just future’.

The relay is organised by the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN), an action-focused community of UK Christians aged 18 to 30. The venture is

funded by Christian Aid, Tearfund and other Christian organisations, and is supported by many more, including The Salvation Army.

Rachel Mander, one of the relay co-leaders, explains why she and her team believe now is the time for Cop26 leaders to act.

‘Climate change is a global problem, but the burden and the impacts are not felt evenly across the world,’ she says.

‘At the moment, when countries feel the effects of climate change, they either pay for the consequences themselves or

YCCN representatives with MP Ben Bradshaw and Canon Cate Edmonds in Exeter Cathedral

4 • WAR CRY • 30 October 2021

they take on debt to deal with it. And it’s countries who are already in distress who are having to take on the most debt.’

YCCN pilgrims began their journey on 11 June from St Ives, Cornwall, on the first day of the G7 summit that was held there. Since then, they have galvanised thousands of people into joining them along the route to Glasgow.

As they trekked through several English cities, including Exeter, London and York, to Edinburgh in Scotland and finally on to Glasgow, The Pilgrim ‘sailed’ alongside them and docked at various churches. Along the way, there have been regional events, including church services, an interfaith gathering and a film screening. YCCN members also garnered support for the relay from MPs and received plenty of media attention.

The entire relay was co-ordinated remotely by a group of volunteers who make up the core team of YCCN, which was created during lockdown last year.

‘It was formed out of a shared experience,’ says Rachel. ‘We had taken action individually but we didn’t have a place to build on that or act as a group. A lot of us still haven’t met in person.’

The lack of in-person contact did not stop YCCN from planning to take action in the early days of this year. They were inspired by one member’s experience of taking part in a similar journey six years earlier for Cop21 in Paris. However, the plans had to be made before the

Countries are having to take on debt

Pilgrims trek through Cornwall and London and take their boat to St Paul’s Cathedral

government could confirm that Cop26 was going ahead, as the world waited to see how efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic would progress.

‘We knew that we would have to plan it before, if we were setting out in June,’ Rachel explains. ‘Even six months was tight. We were aware that we’d always be planning in the dark, and that there would be a lot of things outside our control. We had to make the decision to do this as an act of faith and let God decide the outcomes of where that would take us.’

YCCN members will today be holding prayers and reflections on Glasgow Green and meeting with other climate pilgrimage

groups, who will join them for their final march to George Square in the centre of the city. A closing service at St George’s Tron Church will mark the end of the relay.

Even after the young pilgrims reach their physical destination, YCCN members will continue to make their voices heard in their metaphorical trek towards climate justice. The group plan on taking part in a mass demonstration in Glasgow next Saturday (6 November). Two days later, they will join the Kingdom Choir for a music and prayer event about climate justice held at Glasgow Cathedral.

Rachel believes that climate justice is integral to the Christian faith. She wants

Climate change destroys lives and livelihoods

more Christians to understand that climate change is not only about naturerelated issues, but also about the call to protect people over profits.

‘The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbour,’ she says. ‘You can’t do either of those things without caring about climate change happening, because it’s God’s creation. Climate change destroys lives and livelihoods: the opposite of what loving our neighbour means.

‘In the pandemic we’ve talked a lot about how we’re in this same storm, but that we’re in different boats. It’s the same with climate change. With decisions that are being made this year in the UK, there’s opportunity for us to make international agreements in a fairer way. This is an important moment.’

30 October 2021 • WAR CRY • 5

MAKING FOSSIL FUELS a thing of the past

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REBECCA MURSELL

ANY people are familiar with the story of Noah’s ark, with its animals going in two by two and lots of rain. But in 2004, a couple of Christians connected the story to the modern-day climate crisis when they founded a charity.

Operation Noah began when Paul Bodenham and Ruth Jarman decided that there should be a Christian charity focused specifically on climate change.

It was put together in collaboration with ecumenical group Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.

The organisation’s name is a reference

BOKANI TSHIDZU of environmental charity Operation Noah talks about the importance of fossil fuel divestment and of churches taking action against climate change Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku to the man in the Bible who was asked by God to build an ark because a huge flood was on its way. Noah was tasked with saving all the animals and preserving the human race through his family.

Paul chose the name for the charity because he believes that Noah also lived in a time of climate change and responded positively when he was called to act. Operation Noah supports churches in taking action in response to the climate crisis today.

Bokani Tshidzu works on the charity’s Bright Now campaign, which looks specifically at church investments.

‘We’re seeing if churches have investments in fossil fuel companies and are encouraging them to move away from those to clean energy or sustainable companies,’ she says. ‘I give talks and liaise with organisations who are divesting.

We can also give church members who are

interested in divesting some information to take to their leaders.’

Bokani says that churches should stop investing in fossil fuel companies because ‘a core part of the Christian faith is caring for each other, locally and around the world’. She also recognises that the Church has influence in society.

‘Even though we’re living in a more secular world, people still pay attention and still care when churches make a statement about what is socially or not socially acceptable. So when Christians say certain companies are unethical or immoral, that sends a strong message, and removes companies’ social licence to behave or exploit in a particular way.’

Bokani feels hopeful after the recent reception to Operation Noah’s campaigns.

‘Over this past year, with the global

People recognise we are undergoing a crisis

Bokani Tshidzu

6 • WAR CRY • 30 October 2021

Covid-19 crisis, I wondered if people would have thought, “Let’s park this climate thing.” But the response we had was incredible. The Methodist Church divested, so did the Jesuits. It showed me that people recognise that we are undergoing another crisis. I’ve been encouraged that we’ve been able to be effective, working with people and connecting online.

‘On the flip side, some people have responded by saying that oil companies might become more green and we should wait for them to change. But they’ve had plenty of time, and we don’t have any more. Others have questioned why we worry about investments instead of providing ways to mitigate the crisis, such as changing lightbulbs or recycling more.’

Operation Noah does, however, encourage those smaller changes. As well as campaigning for divestment, it provides churches with a Bible study to

Operation Noah supporters campaign for climate action outside the Houses of Parliament in 2014

help Christians reflect on the challenges of climate change and explore the things they can do to make a difference, such as looking at how their church is heated or choosing clean energy suppliers.

The organisation offers workshops, talks and webinars to engage church leaders and members, and supports other climate organisations and campaigns, such as the call for parliament to pass the Climate and Ecology Bill.

Bokani and the rest of the Operation Noah team are inspired by their faith.

Bokani feels compelled to act because climate change affects the planet and the people in it – people who, she says, are ‘all made by God and of God, so have

We don’t have any more time

inherent dignity, worth and value’.

She explains how an influential faith leader initially piqued her passion for climate activism.

‘Pope Francis published a paper that helped me understand the science of what is happening with climate change, and to recognise that a lot of the people most vulnerable to it were people who look like me and have similar backgrounds – whether that’s in London, because people who live in the most polluted parts of the city are migrant families, or whether that’s in Zimbabwe where I’m from, where there are droughts and famines. It struck me that it was important to be active and find the ways I could make a difference to the injustice.

‘The best thing at Operation Noah is meeting other campaigners who do this work alongside their regular jobs. They may be a minister or a teacher. They live full lives, but they’ve said that this work is a priority and they’re going to do whatever they can to help.’

30 October 2021 • WAR CRY • 7

Scientist sees hope amid climate of fear KATHARINE HAYHOE has contributed research to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, worked on US national climate assessments and taken part in a panel discussion on environmental issues at the White House. She explains why she believes we can change the world for the better Interview by Philip Halcrow

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Katharine Hayhoe

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CIENTIST Katharine Hayhoe sounds worried by this particular experiment. ‘Back in 1992,’ she says, ‘the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed by almost every country in the world. In that document, they agreed to prevent “dangerous anthropogenic” – that is, human – “interference with the climate system”.

That’s a pretty strong statement. But I, as a scientist, would go further. I would say that we are conducting an unprecedented experiment with the only home that we have.’

Katharine – a professor at Texas Tech University, the lead author of three US national climate assessments, a contributor of research to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the chief scientist for global organisation the Nature Conservancy – says that scientists have been trying to answer the question of ‘what impacts would cumulatively become dangerous in a widespread way around the world’ in the years since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was created.

Cop26 in Glasgow is the latest conference in a line stretching back to 1992, including Cop21 in Paris in

2015 where, in their attempts to tackle dangerous interference with the climate system, countries agreed to limit global warming to ‘well below 2C above preindustrial levels’ and preferably to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

‘At the time of the Paris climate conference, there had been quite a bit of research recognising that around or above 2C is when you would start to see really widespread damages that would have significant impacts on national economies, on entire regions, on the world,’ explains Katharine.

‘So going into Paris, a lot of people had the idea of 2C in their head, but many countries – especially low-income countries – were saying that they were already experiencing impacts, and the rise was not even at 1C. By the time the world reached 2C, they would be looking at significant losses in their GDP, and the gap between the richest and poorest countries has already increased by 25 per cent since the 1960s. That is where the Paris target of 2C or, if possible, 1.5C came from.’

The goals have been scrutinised further since. At the request of the UN, the IPCC produced a report projecting the different outcomes with rises of 1.5C and 2C. Yet Katharine adds a caution about goals.

‘The science says that every year matters, every bit of warming matters, every action matters. The more carbon we produce, the greater the impact.

‘It’s like smoking. There’s no magic number of cigarettes you can smoke: it’s not the case that everything is fine up

REUTERS/ALAMY

KATHY DEWITT/ALAMY

Heatwaves and wildfires in Greece and the western US hit the headlines during the summer

until 9,999 but if you smoke one more, then you have lung cancer. It’s the same with our carbon emissions. The more we produce, the worse the impacts.

‘But as humans, we need a target.

Whether we are trying to lose weight or save money for retirement, if we don’t have a goal but just say that we’ll do whatever we can, most of us will do less rather than more.

‘The goals go back to the whole idea of dangerous human interference with the climate system.’

And for some people, says Katharine, including those who lost relatives and

friends in the summer’s heatwaves in her native Canada and across the western US, those who ‘were choking on the smoke from the wildfires in Greece’ and those who have lost their homes to rising sea levels, ‘climate change today is already dangerous’.

Katharine is hoping that Cop26 will play a part in tackling the danger. She says she thinks of the Paris agreement in which countries made pledges to reduce emissions as being ‘like one of the potluck dinners, which we always used to have at church’ – a communal meal to which

Not enough countries have promised to reduce enough emissions

guests would bring along their own food to be shared with others.

‘Right now, though, it’s as if not enough food is on the table. Not enough countries have promised to reduce enough of their emissions to meet the targets. So what I would love to see come out of the Glasgow meeting is a full table.’

Her mention of church does not come as a bolt out of the blue. Katharine is a Christian. She even says: ‘I became a climate scientist because I’m a Christian.’

Katharine grew up in a Christian home.

Her father was a science teacher.

‘So from a very early age, I had the perspective that the Bible is God’s written word and the universe is God’s expressed word. What is science other than studying what God was thinking when he created everything?

‘I was actually planning to become an astrophysicist. I was studying for my undergraduate degree in astronomy

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30 October 2021 • WAR CRY • 9

AUDE GUERRUCCI/DPA/ALAMY

Katharine discusses climate change with President Obama and Leonardo DiCaprio during an event at the White House in 2016

From page 9 and physics at the University of Toronto when I needed an extra class to finish it.

I saw there was a brand-new class on climate science over in the geography department. It sounded interesting, so I took it.

‘I had always thought of climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation and air pollution as environmental issues that people like Sir David Attenborough and Jane Goodall worked on while the rest of us just wished them well. But in that class I learnt that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but also a health issue, an economic issue, an issue of food and water and, most of all, a humanitarian issue. It affects the poorest and most vulnerable people – the very people that in the Bible the Church is told to be aware of, to meet the needs of, to love and care for.

‘The second thing I learnt was that climate science was physics, which I had been studying in my physics and astronomy class. It seemed serendipitous – though looking back, I see there are no accidents with God – that I had the exact skill set that was needed to study this urgent global problem.

‘So how could I not do everything that I could to help?’

Today, Katharine carries out research into the effects of climate change and looks for ways of translating projections

into information that can be used in agriculture, energy, infrastructure and public health.

She also tries to translate her findings for the public. She addressed questions of climate change when she took part in a discussion with President Barack Obama and actor Leonardo DiCaprio – who had just fronted a documentary on the subject – at a ‘festival of ideas, art and action’ in the grounds of the White House. Her TED talk on how people could fight climate change has been viewed almost four million times. Her latest book, Saving Us, about the problems of and solutions to climate change, was published this week. In it, she draws on her observations as a Christian as well as a scientist.

‘When the title talks about “us”,’ she tells me, ‘I mean “us humans” as well as most other living things on this planet, because as Christians we believe in what it says in Genesis, that God gave humans dominion over every living thing on this planet. “Dominion” doesn’t imply destroying and extracting everything of value and leaving a smoking ruin. It carries a sense of responsibility and taking care of something.’

In Katharine’s eyes, the concept of ‘us’ is key in the struggle to stop dangerous climate change.

‘Often we think that climate change

Each of us has a role to play in fixing it

10 • WAR CRY • 30 October 2021

denial is the greatest problem we have,’ she says, ‘but the number of people who reject the physics that we have known since the 1800s is relatively small compared with the number of people who think that climate change doesn’t matter to “us”. The biggest problem we have is that some people see climate change as an issue only for people who live in lowincome countries or to plants and animals and that it is only a future problem.

‘The second biggest problem is that we don’t think that there’s anything we can do to fix it.

‘So we need to understand that it is already affecting us here and now in places that directly matter to us, our family, our place of work, the place where we live, the things that we love – and then that each one of us has a role to play in helping to fix it.

‘And fixing it does not begin with changing our lightbulbs or recycling. It begins with using our voices to advocate for change.

‘The world has changed before – slavery was abolished, women gained the vote, apartheid was ended in South Africa – and it changed because ordinary people used their voices.

‘I believe that if Christians take the Bible seriously, we will be in the front line of demanding climate action. God made us to be people who are recognised by their love for others. And today, when climate change is disproportionately affecting the

The Eiffel Tower is lit up with environmental messages at the time of Cop21 in Paris

ONLY FRANCE/ALAMY

most vulnerable people in the world, a failure to act on climate change is a failure to love.’

Katharine has been encouraged when she has seen Christian organisations ‘working in some of the most impoverished areas of the world to help farmers grow food, get water and get clean energy’. She is also glad when church leaders speak up, as happened recently when the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Pope issued a joint statement urging people to pray for world leaders ahead of Cop26 and to make lifestyle choices that ensure the future of the planet.

She is keen to use a resource that people who do want to fix climate change may sometimes seem hard to find.

‘The number one question I have gotten

over the past three or four years,’ says Katharine, ‘is about whether there is any hope.

‘The hope is not in the science. Every day, we see new studies showing us that the climate is changing faster or to a greater extent than we thought. Often we place our hope in individuals or political systems. But that hope will always fail.

‘However, when you look at psychology, neuroscience and social science, you see that hope does not mean positive circumstances. It’s the same in the Bible.

‘In his Letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul talks about hope, but he begins by talking about suffering.

He writes that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance leads to character and character to hope and that hope ultimately does not disappoint, because we place our hope in God.

We are not built to be paralysed by fear

‘The Bible verse that inspires me the most doesn’t – of course – mention climate change, but it’s where Paul tells Timothy: God has not given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power so that you can act, a spirit of love to have compassion on others and – my favourite bit as a scientist – a sound mind to make good decisions based on the information he has given us, some of which he gives us through science and his creation.

‘We are not built to be paralysed by fear. We are intended to be people who can act out of love and a sound mind.

When we do that, we find hope.’

l Saving Us is published by Simon & Schuster

30 October 2021 • WAR CRY • 11

HOW TO BEE A Salvation Army beekeeping and reforesting project in the Democratic Republic of Congo is helping a community tackle the effects of environmental degradation Feature by Emily Bright

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HERE’S a buzz among The Salvation Army’s international development team in the UK about how bees can tackle the effects of climate change. One reforesting and beekeeping project in the Democratic Republic of Congo is reaping a rich harvest.

Based in an area called Bateke, near the nation’s capital of Kinshasa, the project, which is supported by the international development team, has been running for almost four years. It aims to mitigate problems such as soil erosion, irregular rainfall and flooding. Violet Ruria, the UK Salvation Army’s programme adviser on sustainable livelihood development, explains more about the DRC project.

‘There’s a growing population in the cities,’ she says. ‘More people have migrated from the rural areas to the

Farmer Boniface Kipapa Tatwiri with a beehive

12 • WAR CRY • 30 October 2021

urban settlement. That has created a stress on energy. So trees are cleared for construction and charcoal burning.’

The Salvation Army wanted to find ways of reversing this trend.

‘Initially we conducted a forestry and food security project where communities were integrating the growing of acacia trees alongside cassava, which is the staple food in the DRC,’ Violet continues.

‘We were able to increase the number of acacia trees while nurturing existing ones.

‘When that went well, we installed beehives on the acacia tree plantations.

The project trained communities to make and install the beehives, and then to manage the beekeeping.’

Violet elaborates on the significant benefits of acacia trees.

‘When it is intergrown with a wheat crop, the acacia tree helps to protect the soil from erosion – which is a devastating impact of climate change – and helps the soil to retain moisture.

‘The acacia tree also adds fertility to the soil when it

Violet Ruria

sheds its leaves. The leaves form humus.

Once those leaves decay, they add nutrients to the soil. So the crops that people grow – mainly cassava – are nourished by the trees. The average crop yield when cassava integrates with acacia trees is higher than before.’

The benefits of acacia trees are not limited to preventing soil erosion and boosting cassava harvests. Their flowers create an excellent pollen to produce honey, which offers a source of income

Soil erosion is a devastating impact of climate change

GREEN and serves as a nutritious source of food for the community. By attracting the bees, the acacias also have an inbuilt security system, dissuading people from cutting them down for fear of being stung.

There’s an increasingly urgent need for projects such as the one in Bateke.

Violet has frequently heard about the impact of climate change.

‘Over the years that I’ve visited the DRC, I’ve always asked the people, “What do you see changing in your environment?”

We get into the discussion about migration and the cutting of trees, but what is very prominent is that they talk about a significant increase in temperatures.

‘The rainfall pattern has also been disrupted in the recent past. This is problematic, as farmers are only really able to plant with regular rainfall. Additionally, the soil may become so degraded that the harvest is not enough to cater for even their own families, and they may not get the income to afford school fees for their children.

‘The eruption of the volcanoes has also been more constant, which can be attributed to the ocean temperatures rising. Meanwhile, the DRC has experienced more flooding than in the past years, resulting in the spread of waterborne diseases and the destruction of food crops.’

However, The Salvation Army’s Bateke project has given hope to communities.

It has already changed the fortunes of

families such as that of 36-year-old farmer Nsimba Joseph, who has planted 1,200 acacia trees on his 2-acre farm. As a father of three and guardian of his late brother’s seven children, he has many family members to support, but his crop yields have soared.

‘I used to harvest less than 20 bags of cassava. Now I harvest more than 30 bags,’ he says.

‘With my increased sale of cassava, I now afford school fees for my own three children and my late brother’s children.’

The motivation Bateke farmers tending to acacias in nurseries, behind such projects is where the trees are grown before being planted The Salvation Army’s out in fields and areas earmarked for reforesting faith foundation. Violet believes that the Bible calls Christians to act and alleviate the impact of climate change. environment we can’t find that,’ she says.

‘It’s a Christian mandate to take care of ‘Our actions have an impact on many the environment,’ she says. ‘The Bible’s vulnerable people, and when we start very clear about it in Genesis. Human talking about addressing poverty, we need beings were created to nurture creation, to start thinking about what poverty is: it’s which shows the beauty and presence of about a lack of food, water and human God.’ essentials.

But, as Violet explains, climate change ‘If we are creating more poor people is not simply an environmental issue. It’s because of our actions, then we need to also one of social justice. challenge ourselves to bring change in the ‘People need adequate food and world. Tackling climate change requires clean water, and unless we conserve the urgency.’

I now afford school fees

30 October 2021 • WAR CRY • 13

PUZZLES Quick CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

ACROSS 1. Thick sauce (5) 5. Journal (5) 8. Plastic fibre (5) 9. Saunter (5) 10. Protective garment (5) 11. Rowdy (5) 12. Foodstuff (4) 15. Shoved (6) 17. Gem (5) 18. Tranquil (6) 20. Aid (4) 25. Teacher (5) 26. Barter (5) 27. Mistake (5) 28. Rascal (5) 29. Irritable (5) 30. Authority (5)

DOWN 1. Celestial body (6) 2. Snub (6) 3. Occurrence (5) 4. Up to (5) 5. Frolicsome (7) 6. Wither (6) 7. Musty (6) 13. Lubricate (3) 14. Sleeping berth (3) 15. Spigot (3)

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

1 8 2 6 5 7 5 8

4 5 6 5 8

1 2

4 5

6 2

7 3 1 16. Female sheep (3) 17. Agitated (7) 18. Placard (6) 19. Appalled (6) 21. Handcart (6) 22. Extreme fear (6) 23. Platform (5) 24. Crawl (5)

6 8 9 1 5 9 6 8

WORDSEARCH

1 8 7 2 3 9 4 5 6 2 9 6 1 5 4 3 8 7 Look up, down, forwards, 4 5 backwards 3 6 8and7diagonally 9 2 1 on the grid to find these words associated with autumn 6 7 5 8 9 2 1 4 3 D D Z T H R R Q A E X O R H P 9 4 8 5 1 3 I 6L 7Y 2 L X W O Q D E D V Y Q U L K V M G Z 3 1 2 I 4 7 6 8 9 5 S D S Z T Q P B F Q J W Z F Y H M Y U J U Z B M A M Z W E R A Q 5 2 9 3 6 8 I 7 J 1F 4 D X P L F R U I T A G E L E P O Z Q 8 6 4 7 2 1 5 3 9 H T U Y Z E J Q W Y K L D D Q K B X V Y M I Y M W Z Q N 7 3 1 I Z 9 A W W V 4 5 2E 6F 8

M O HONEYC B Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number

A J P D L E O Q O N U Q N N L G L L L H K J Q M R C G L W T Q T R Q S T Z O I Q U B C L W Q E Z E Z V I J Q B O N F I R E N I G H T T R T E Z B Q U C O H A R V E S T Y Q W H J P Z F F R Q V N A V A M Q G D U A I Z L R X I E Y C C Z M E H N Z N B Q T A R D S P Q E S T I Y J F Y X I E K R G Z P V R D N T Z A X D N T G W D Q T O U F M A Q P K A U J X S P J J W P E Z N T Y Y J T X M H Q T A V Z V

1. Fortified building 2. Bodyguard 3. Chimney on a ship 4. Type of bread or cake 5. Call on as a witness 6. Type of edible seed

ANSWERS 1 2 4 6 9 3 5 8 7

8 9 5 7 4 1 2 6 3

7 6 3 5 8 2 9 4 1

2 1 6 8 5 4 3 7 9

3 5 8 9 1 7 6 2 4

9 4 7 2 3 6 8 1 5

4 3 9 1 6 8 7 5 2

5 8 2 4 7 9 1 3 6

6 7 1 3 2 5 4 9 8

HONEYCOMB 1. Castle. 2. Minder. 3. Funnel.

4. Muffin. 5. Invoke. 6. Sesame.

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Puree. 5. Paper. 8. Vinyl. 9. Amble.

10. Apron. 11. Noisy. 12. Tofu. 15. Pushed. 17. Jewel.

18. Placid. 20. Abet. 25. Tutor. 26. Trade. 27. Error.

28. Rogue. 29. Ratty. 30. Power.

DOWN: 1. Planet. 2. Rebuff. 3. Event. 4. Until.

5. Playful. 6. Perish. 7. Rancid. 13. Oil. 14. Bed. 15. Peg. 16. Ewe. 17. Jittery. 18. Poster. 19. Aghast.

21. Barrow. 22. Terror. 23. Stage. 24. Creep.

14 • WAR CRY • 30 October 2021

AMBER

JUMPER

BONFIRE NIGHT

POPPY

CONKER

PUMPKIN

CRISP

REMEMBRANCE DAY

FALLING LEAVES

SCARECROW

FRUITAGE

WINDY

HARVEST

YIELD

7 3 1 2

5

9 6 8

Yellow split pea and tofu chowder Ingredients 150g yellow split peas 1tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 1 leek, halved and sliced 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1tsp smoked paprika 1tsp turmeric 800ml vegetable stock, made with 1 reduced-salt stock cube 225g smoked tofu, chopped into 1cm cubes 300g cooked new potatoes, thickly sliced, with skin 325g sweetcorn, rinsed and drained 75ml soya cream Ground black pepper 1 small bunch chives, chopped 1 roasted red pepper, sliced, to garnish

Method Cook the yellow split peas according to the packet instructions.

Heat half the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and leek and fry on a medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened.

Add the garlic, cooked split peas, paprika and turmeric and cook for 1 minute to coat the split peas. Pour over the stock, gently bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes.

Place half the tofu cubes in a small bowl. Ladle 100ml hot stock from the pan into the bowl with the tofu. Process with a hand blender until the tofu is smooth. Add the blended tofu to the pan and gently bring to a simmer.

Add the potatoes and sweetcorn. Heat gently for 5 minutes.

Heat the remaining oil in a non-stick pan and fry the rest of the tofu for 5 minutes, stirring to ensure that it is browned on all sides.

Remove the chowder from the heat, stir in the soya cream and season with pepper.

Serve in warm bowls, sprinkle over the chives, top with the fried tofu and garnish with the red pepper slices.

SERVES

4

Kidney bean and mushroom chilli Ingredients 1 onion, finely chopped 1tbsp olive oil 4 garlic cloves, crushed ¼ tsp cinnamon ½ tsp cayenne pepper 1tsp dried oregano 2tbsp chipotles in adobo sauce 50g bulgar wheat 2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes 400g can kidney beans

2 fresh chillies, chopped 75g tomato puree 100g sun-dried tomato puree 250g mushrooms, sliced 1tsp vegan stock powder Salt and pepper 75g pickled jalapeño chillies 20g dark chocolate, grated, to garnish

Method In a large pan, gently fry the onion in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and oregano and cook for 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the jalapeño chillies and chocolate. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Just before serving, add the jalapeños.

Garnish the chilli with a little grated dark chocolate. Serve with rice, guacamole, tortilla chips and wedges of lime.

Recipes reprinted, with permission, from the Vegetarian Society website vegsoc.org

SERVES

4

30 October 2021 • WAR CRY • 15

The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it (Psalm 24:1 New International Version)

WAR CRY