Upon reaching Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, on Saturday, the young people participating in the Nairobi-to-Durban caravan was welcomed by the Botswana Council of Churches. A group of cyclists, as well as local police, escorted the buses into town where a ceremony was held at Tree Dikgosi Monument.
Warm welcome
The organizers made the welcoming brief since the temperature by then had reached 40 degrees. “We are trying to run away from both the heat and the rain today” one of the organizers laughed. Although a funny remark, he fact is that the heat wave the participants experienced in Botswana is partly blamed on climate change.
The leader of the youth council in Botswana, Metlha Mokwena, told the caravan that Botswana is extremely vulnerable to climate change, and that heat waves are one of the consequences already seen in the country. Combined with other effects of climate change, this places a strain on food and water security in Botswana.
- There is an urgent need for African youth to put pressure on governments to extend the Kyoto Protocol at COP 17, Metlha Mokwena said.
A concert in Gabarone on Saturday night (Photo: NCA)
Praying for climate justice
On Saturday evening, the caravan took part in a climate justice concert in central Gaborone. The morning after, the participants were invited to an ecumenical youth prayer service for the meeting in Durban and climate change in the Dutch reformed Church.
Richard Omondi from Kenya greeted the congregation on behalf of the Youth Climate Justice Caravan.
“Some of you might wonder why all these youth are travelling from Nairobi to Durban. The answer is that we stand for climate justice,” Richard explained.
One representative from each of the 20 countries represented in the caravan also conveyed at message to the congregation about how climate change is affecting their country.
“The message we are taking to our leaders is that they should secure a legally binding agreement that secures our future,” Richard said and asked the congregation to sign the petition. He also thanked faith leaders in Botswana for giving their support to the caravan.
Onwards to Durban
At the end of the service, the General Secretary of Botswana Council of Churches. Mosweu Simane , thanked the caravan participants for reminding the church in Botswana that we are stewards of God’s creation.
Next Sunday the caravan will be joining the Inter Faith Rally in Durban. Durban is the host of the UN climate summit, and the rally will be held on the day before the negotiations start. The rally will bring together faith leaders from all over Africa, including the Botswana Council of Churches.
“We are going to Durban to say to tell world leaders that we are not going to allow you to just socialise at this meeting. We want you to meet to make decisions to save the world,” Rev. Mosweu Simane said.
The Inter faith Rally will be hosted by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the petitions collected throughout Africa will be handed over to the chair of COP 17.