The way old friends do ...

Three Questions

It once occurred to a certain king, that if he always knew the right time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to listen to, and whom to avoid; and, above all, if he always knew what was the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything he might undertake.

And this thought having occurred to him, he had it proclaimed throughout his kingdom that he would give a great reward to any one who would teach him what was the right time for every action, and who were the most necessary people, and how he might know what was the most important thing to do.

And learned men came to the King, but they all answered his questions differently.

In reply to the first question, some said that to know the right time for every action, one must draw up in advance, a table of days, months and years, and must live strictly according to it. Only thus, said they, could everything be done at its proper time. Others declared that it was impossible to decide beforehand the right time for every action; but that, not letting oneself be absorbed in idle pastimes, one should always attend to all that was going on, and then do what was most needful. Others, again, said that however attentive the King might be to what was going on, it was impossible for one man to decide correctly the right time for every action, but that he should have a Council of wise men, who would help him to fix the proper time for everything.

But then again others said there were some things which could not wait to be laid before a Council, but about which one had at once to decide whether to undertake them or not. But in order to decide that, one must know beforehand what was going to happen. It is only magicians who know that; and, therefore, in order to know the right time for every action, one must consult magicians.

Equally various were the answers to the second question. Some said, the people the King most needed were his councillors; others, the priests; others, the doctors; while some said the warriors were the most necessary.

To the third question, as to what was the most important occupation: some replied that the most important thing in the world was science. Others said it was skill in warfare; and others, again, that it was religious worship.

All the answers being different, the King agreed with none of them, and gave the reward to none. But still wishing to find the right answers to his questions, he decided to consult a hermit, widely renowned for his wisdom.

The hermit lived in a wood which he never quitted, and he received none but common folk. So the King put on simple clothes, and before reaching the hermit's cell dismounted from his horse, and, leaving his body-guard behind, went on alone.

When the King approached, the hermit was digging the ground in front of his hut. Seeing the King, he greeted him and went on digging. The hermit was frail and weak, and each time he stuck his spade into the ground and turned a little earth, he breathed heavily.

The King went up to him and said: "I have come to you, wise hermit, to ask you to answer three questions: How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time? Who are the people I most need, and to whom should I, therefore, pay more attention than to the rest? And, what affairs are the most important, and need my first attention?"

The hermit listened to the King, but answered nothing. He just spat on his hand and recommenced digging.

"You are tired," said the King, "let me take the spade and work awhile for you."

"Thanks!" said the hermit, and, giving the spade to the King, he sat down on the ground.

When he had dug two beds, the King stopped and repeated his questions. The hermit again gave no answer, but rose, stretched out his hand for the spade, and said:

"Now rest awhile-and let me work a bit."

But the King did not give him the spade, and continued to dig. One hour passed, and another. The sun began to sink behind the trees, and the King at last stuck the spade into the ground, and said:

"I came to you, wise man, for an answer to my questions. If you can give me none, tell me so, and I will return home."

"Here comes some one running," said the hermit, "let us see who it is."

The King turned round, and saw a bearded man come running out of the wood. The man held his hands pressed against his stomach, and blood was flowing from under them. When he reached the King, he fell fainting on the ground moaning feebly. The King and the hermit unfastened the man's clothing. There was a large wound in his stomach. The King washed it as best he could, and bandaged it with his handkerchief and with a towel the hermit had. But the blood would not stop flowing, and the King again and again removed the bandage soaked with warm blood, and washed and rebandaged the wound. When at last the blood ceased flowing, the man revived and asked for something to drink. The King brought fresh water and gave it to him. Meanwhile the sun had set, and it had become cool. So the King, with the hermit's help, carried the wounded man into the hut and laid him on the bed. Lying on the bed the man closed his eyes and was quiet; but the King was so tired with his walk and with the work he had done, that he crouched down on the threshold, and also fell asleep--so soundly that he slept all through the short summer night. When he awoke in the morning, it was long before he could remember where he was, or who was the strange bearded man lying on the bed and gazing intently at him with shining eyes.

"Forgive me!" said the bearded man in a weak voice, when he saw that the King was awake and was looking at him.

"I do not know you, and have nothing to forgive you for," said the King.

"You do not know me, but I know you. I am that enemy of yours who swore to revenge himself on you, because you executed his brother and seized his property. I knew you had gone alone to see the hermit, and I resolved to kill you on your way back.


But the day passed and you did not return. So I came out from my ambush to find you, and I came upon your bodyguard, and they recognized me, and wounded me. I escaped from them, but should have bled to death had you not dressed my wound. I wished to kill you, and you have saved my life. Now, if I live, and if you wish it, I will serve you as your most faithful slave, and will bid my sons do the same. Forgive me!"

The King was very glad to have made peace with his enemy so easily, and to have gained him for a friend, and he not only forgave him, but said he would send his servants and his own physician to attend him, and promised to restore his property.

Having taken leave of the wounded man, the King went out into the porch and looked around for the hermit. Before going away he wished once more to beg an answer to the questions he had put. The hermit was outside, on his knees, sowing seeds in the beds that had been dug the day before.

The King approached him, and said:

"For the last time, I pray you to answer my questions, wise man."

"You have already been answered!" said the hermit, still crouching on his thin legs, and looking up at the King, who stood before him.

"How answered? What do you mean?" asked the King.

"Do you not see," replied the hermit. "If you had not pitied my weakness yesterday, and had not dug those beds for me, but had gone your way, that man would have attacked you, and you would have repented of not having stayed with me. So the most important time was when you were digging the beds; and I was the most important man; and to do me good was your most important business. Afterwards when that man ran to us, the most important time was when you were attending to him, for if you had not bound up his wounds he would have died without having made peace with you. So he was the most important man, and what you did for him was your most important business. Remember then: there is only one time that is important-- Now!

It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with any one else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!"

Times of joy and times of sorrow
We will always see it through

Oh I don't care what comes tomorrow
We can face it together
The way old friends do 

(Abba)

Have a great 2012!

Leo Tolstoy's short story: Three Questions

Hope is the Thing with Feathers ...

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me

"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come". Click here to see...  

- Emily Dickenson

I am a Believer ...

A Hunger Artist

In the last decades interest in hunger artists has declined considerably. Whereas in earlier days there was good money to be earned putting on major productions of this sort under one’s own management, nowadays that is totally impossible. Those were different times.

While for grown-ups the hunger artist was often merely a joke, something they participated in because it was fashionable, the children looked on amazed, their mouths open, holding each other’s hands for safety, as he sat there on scattered straw—spurning a chair—in black tights, looking pale, with his ribs sticking out prominently, sometimes nodding politely, answering questions with a forced smile, even sticking his arm out through the bars to let people feel how emaciated he was, but then completely sinking back into himself, so that he paid no attention to anything, not even to what was so important to him, the striking of the clock, which was the single furnishing in the cage, but merely looking out in front of him with his eyes almost shut and now and then sipping from a tiny glass of water to moisten his lips.

Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu

However, it was, in general, part of fasting that doubts were inextricably associated with it. For, in fact, no one was in a position to spend time watching the hunger artist every day and night without interruption, so no one could know, on the basis of his own observation, whether this was a case of truly continuous, flawless fasting.

The hunger artist himself was the only one who could know that and, at the same time, the only spectator capable of being completely satisfied with his own fasting. But the reason he was never satisfied was something different. Perhaps it was not fasting at all which made him so very emaciated that many people, to their own regret, had to stay away from his performance, because they couldn’t bear to look at him.

For he was also so skeletal out of dissatisfaction with himself, because he alone knew something that even initiates didn’t know—how easy it was to fast. It was the easiest thing in the world. About this he did not remain silent, but people did not believe him. At best they thought he was being modest.

Noeleen - 3 Talk

Most of them, however, believed he was a publicity seeker or a total swindler, for whom, at all events, fasting was easy, because he understood how to make it easy, and then still had the nerve to half admit it. He had to accept all that.

Why did this crowd, which pretended to admire him so much, have so little patience with him? If he kept going and kept fasting even longer, why would they not tolerate it?

But then happened what always happened. The impresario came forward without a word—the music made talking impossible—raised his arms over the hunger artist, as if inviting heaven to look upon its work here on the straw, this unfortunate martyr, something the hunger artist certainly was, only in a completely different sense…

Chris Chameleon

So he said farewell to the impresario, an incomparable companion on his life’s road, and let himself be hired by a large circus. In order to spare his own feelings, he didn’t even look at the terms of his contract at all.

When those who had witnessed such scenes thought back on them a few years later, often they were unable to understand themselves.

A large circus with its huge number of men, animals, and gimmicks, which are constantly being let go and replenished, can use anyone at any time, even a hunger artist, provided, of course, his demands are modest.

Moreover, in this particular case it was not only the hunger artist himself who was engaged, but also his old and famous name. In fact, given the characteristic nature of his art, which was not diminished by his advancing age, one could never claim that a worn-out artist, who no longer stood at the pinnacle of his ability, wanted to escape to a quiet position in the circus.

Lewis Pugh

On the contrary, the hunger artist declared that he could fast just as well as in earlier times—something that was entirely credible. Indeed, he even affirmed that if people would let him do what he wanted—and he was promised this without further ado—he would really now legitimately amaze the world for the first time, an assertion which, however, given the mood of the time, something the hunger artist in his enthusiasm easily overlooked, only brought smiles from the experts.

Arno Carstens

People became accustomed to thinking it strange that in these times they would want to pay attention to a hunger artist, and with this habitual awareness the judgment on him was pronounced.

He might fast as well as he could—and he did—but nothing could save him any more. People went straight past him. Try to explain the art of fasting to anyone! If someone doesn’t feel it, then he cannot be made to understand it.

And so the hunger artist kept fasting on and on, as he once had dreamed about in earlier times, and he had no difficulty at all managing to achieve what he had predicted back then, but no one was counting the days—no one, not even the hunger artist himself, knew how great his achievement was by this point, and his heart grew heavy.

Indigenous People of Africa

And when once in a while a person strolling past stood there making fun of the old number and talking of a swindle, that was in a sense the stupidest lie which indifference and innate maliciousness could invent, for the hunger artist was not being deceptive—he was working honestly—but the world was cheating him of his reward.

Many days went by once more, and this, too, came to an end. Finally the cage caught the attention of a supervisor, and he asked the attendant why they had left this perfectly useful cage standing here unused with rotting straw inside.

Nobody knew, until one man, with the help of the table with the number on it, remembered the hunger artist. They pushed the straw around with poles and found the hunger artist in there. “Are you still fasting?” the supervisor asked. “When are you finally going to stop?” “Forgive me everything,” whispered the hunger artist. Only the supervisor, who was pressing his ear up against the cage, understood him. “Certainly,” said the supervisor, tapping his forehead with his finger in order to indicate to the staff the state the hunger artist was in, “we forgive you.” “I always wanted you to admire my fasting,” said the hunger artist. “But we do admire it,” said the supervisor obligingly. “But you shouldn’t admire it,” said the hunger artist. “Well then, we don’t admire it,” said the supervisor, “but why shouldn’t we admire it?”

“Because I had to fast. I can’t do anything else,” said the hunger artist. “Just look at you,” said the supervisor, “why can’t you do anything else?”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“Because,” said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and, with his lips pursed as if for a kiss, speaking right into the supervisor’s ear so that he wouldn’t miss anything, “because I couldn’t find a food which tasted good to me. If had found that, believe me, I would not have made a spectacle of myself and would have eaten to my heart’s content, like you and everyone else.”

Those were his last words, but in his failing eyes there was still the firm, if no longer proud, conviction that he was continuing to fast. 

Acknowledgements:
- The Hunger Artist- Franz Kafka ( Translation Ian Johnstone)
- Music by Desert Rose, Yusuf and Lynn Ganief.

Minutes to Midnight ...

"The Trees"

For we are as tree-trunks in the snow. 

Apparantly they are merely resting on the surface of the snow, and a little push would be enough to knock them over. 

No, that's not the case, for they are firmly attached to the ground. 

But see, even that is only seemingly the case. 

- Franz Kafka 

When money and the fear have taken all that's dear
that's when we know for certain
all the values that we have for feit
now we know there's no value in possessions

- Chris Chameleon 

The responsibility for and the ability to determine the future of Africa rests with the people of Africa ( Chris Marais, CEO - LCA)

Join Chris Chameleon, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Arno Carstens and Somerfaan at the iStart2 launch in Durban on 27 November 2011. 

iStart2 Act Now for Climate Justice.

iStart2 - Launch at COP17 in Durban, South Africa, 27 Nov 2011

When you wish upon a star...

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

A few months ago the iStart2 team started preparing to have our launch part of the COP17 Summit to be held in Durban at the end of November. We handed letters of invitation to Al Gore, Frida from Abba, Annie Lennox, Sting, Yusuf Islam and a few other celebrities, inviting them to become part of our initiative. This is a big thank you to every one of them who have tried to be here... and to those who will be here.

“Dear Pierre, 

I feel deeply honoured ( and humbled) to be invited to participate in such a significant event with dear Bishop Tutu. It is something I would have absolutely loved to have done, however I have a previous engagement which I'm already committed to fulfilling at that time, which unfortunately makes it impossible for me to attend. This sounds like a very exciting initiative…one which I thoroughly endorse. Hopefully there might be another occasion for me to participate in along the line. Best wishes from Annie Lennox.”

Similar letters of support from so many people gave the iStart2 team the confidence to continue to pursue this worthy cause.

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

A big thank you to everybody who have given so much of their time to try and make this small wish we all have, come true.

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

LEONARDO Dicaprio and Angelina Jolie head up a star-studded cast of celebrities expected to descend on Durban during the COP17 climate talks in three weeks’ time, which will be the biggest single event in Durban’s history. Our own Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (iStar-tu- 2!), former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, U2 frontman Bono, Grammy award winner Angelique Kidjo, former US presidential candidate and green campaigner Al Gore, and Virgin boss Richard Branson

 

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Grammy Award winner Angelique Kidjo and Mali afro-pop singer Salif Keita will join a host of South African musicians who will perform at various concerts and events. One of the bigger pre-conference events is a free rally and concert at King’s Park Stadium on November 27, hosted by Tutu. The conference starts the next morning. Among the South Africans will be Hugh Masakela, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, rap star HHP and Springbok Nude Girls frontman, Arno Carstens.

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Things are happening! We still need a little bit of funding to finalise a few things. If your organization is in a position to sponsor one or more of the following, please give me call, or email me at Pierre@istart2.com.

Wish list:
- Traveling, accommodation and per diem costs of a few more artists for the event at Kings Park,

- T-shirts for the Field Band Foundation and Hit Parade Foundation
- Marrionettes and clowns and mimes who can help us out. Are you out there??
- Broadcast of the event on the internet

Like a bolt out of the blue

Fate steps in and sees you through

When you wish upon a star

Your dreams come true

iStart2 wish upon a star ...

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika

Xhosa Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,

Zulu Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

Sotho Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa, South Afrika — South Afrika. our nation, South Africa — South Africa.

Afrikaans Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

English Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land.

iStart2... 

A “Sustainability-Through-Art” movement

 in which the global community will participate

in re-imagining and implementing solutions

towards ensuring

a sustainable future

for our children.

.

Homeless ...

A little Fable

"Alas," said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into." 

Somebody say ih hih ih hih ih
Somebody sing hello, hello, hello

Somebody say ih hih ih hih ih
Somebody cry why, why, why?

"You only need to change your direction," said the cat and ate it up.

Otto: Avoid the green ones. They're not ripe yet.
(A fish called Wanda)


( A little Fable - Franz Kafka)

Emergency ...

An Imperial Message

The Emperor—so they say—has sent a message, directly from his death bed, to you alone, his pathetic subject, a tiny shadow which has taken refuge at the furthest distance from the imperial sun. 

He ordered the herald to kneel down beside his bed and whispered the message in his ear. He thought it was so important that he had the herald speak it back to him. He confirmed the accuracy of verbal message by nodding his head. And in front of the entire crowd of those witnessing his death—all the obstructing walls have been broken down, and all the great ones of his empire are standing in a circle on the broad and high soaring flights of stairs—in front of all of them he dispatched his herald. 

There's a virus in the circus
And the clown didn't hurt this
So much pain
Hurt it, hurt it

The messenger started off at once, a powerful, tireless man. Sticking one arm out and then another, he makes his way through the crowd. If he runs into resistance, he points to his breast where there is a sign of the sun. 

So he moves forwards easily, unlike anyone else. But the crowd is so huge; its dwelling places are infinite. If there were an open field, how he would fly along, and soon you would hear the marvellous pounding of his fist on your door. But instead of that, how futile are all his efforts. 

He is still forcing his way through the private rooms of the innermost palace. Never will he win his way through. And if he did manage that, nothing would have been achieved.

He was talking at a hundred miles an hour
Saying words that can only mend nations...

 He would have to fight his way down the steps, and, if he managed to do that, nothing would have been achieved. He would have to stride through the courtyards, and after the courtyards through the second palace encircling the first, and, then again, through stairs and courtyards, and then, once again, a palace, and so on for thousands of years.

 And if he finally burst through the outermost door—but that can never, never happen—the royal capital city, the centre of the world, is still there in front of him, piled high and full of sediment.

Something out of me
Something out of you
Something we started...

No one pushes his way through here, certainly not someone with a message from a dead man. But you sit at your window and dream of that message when evening comes.



Arno Carstens: Emergency … Something we started

iStart2…

An Imperial Message  

by Franz Kafka

Translation by Ian Johnston

We've only just begun ...

When we allow a sustainable world, when we let it sing from every village and every town, from every city and every country, we will be able to take hands and sing

"With our own two hands we can change the world".

Before the rising sun we fly,
So many roads to choose
We start our walking and learn to run.
And yes, We've just begun.

 

iStart2 is a “sustainability through the arts” initiative,  helping us to make contact with world leaders.  Our goal is to launch a movement in which the global community will participate in re-imagining and implementing solutions towards ensuring a sustainable future for our children.

Sharing horizons that are new to us,
Watching the signs along the way,
Talking it over just the two of us,
Working together day to day
Together.

We, iStart2 and members of faith and non-faith communities of southern Africa, are organising a rally and music concert to be held in the Kings Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa, on the afternoon of 27^th November 2011, the day before the UN climate talks, the 17^th Conference of Parties (COP), commences.

And when the evening comes we smile,
So much of life ahead
We'll find a place where there's room to grow,
And yes, We've just begun.

We need all the support we can get. This is a call to organisations who wish to partner with iStart2 and show support at this launch event. Contact Pierre du Toit at +27 82 900 6048 or email Pierre@istart2.com. We’ve only just begun.  iStart2-day!  

Fragile ...

You, the South African and International community, are invited to join us in Durban and to take hands with a rockstar “one punk level higher” than Bono. We have also asked a few international and local artists to join us at this groundbreaking event. Participate at the biggest rally to hit South Africa this year! No visa required at the stadium - a free event!

On the afternoon of Sunday 27 November 2011, music, dance, jokes and the sound of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's signature chuckle will fill the Kings Park Rugby Stadium when people from all over the world will get together to sing “With our own two hands we can change the world” 

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu will be hosting this event when 52 000 people will come together to call on political leaders to put ethics and life ahead of national self interest. Since climate change is the greatest threat to have confronted humanity, people of Africa and the world will call for a fair and legally binding agreement, with a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol and success of COP17.

iStart2 is a “Sustainability through the Arts” initiative, helping us to make contact with world leaders and will launch a movement in which the global community will participate in re-imagining and implementing solutions towards ensuring a sustainable future for our children.

Thank you Archbishop Desmond for showing us that we must never forget how fragile we are...

That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could

For all those born beneath an angry star

Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall

Like tears from a star like tears from a star

On and on the rain will say

How fragile we are how fragile we are

Here’s to “The Arch”, showing us that we can only be human together. Showing us that it is okay to show our fragility,  and that without forgiveness there is no future ... and that it IS okay for people of different faiths and non-faiths to take hands. 

Happy 80th Birthday Archbishop Desmond Tutu!

iStart2 … i Star Tutu…

You can call me Al ...

The Place;

Martiniplaza, Groningen, The Netherlands, 29 September 2011.

A man walks down the street

He says why am I soft in the middle now

Why am I soft in the middle

The rest of my life is so hard

I need a photo-opportunity

Al Gore & Pierre du Toit in Groningen

 I want a shot at redemption

 Don't want to end up a cartoon

 In a cartoon graveyard

 Bonedigger Bonedigger

 Dogs in the moonlight

 Far away my well-lit door

 Mr. Beerbelly Beerbelly

 Get these mutts away from me

 You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore

The Presentation:

The science linking the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather to the climate crisis has matured tremendously in the last couple of years. Think about the last year, we've had floods in Pakistan displacing 20 million people and further destabilizing a nuclear-armed country. We've had drought and wildfires in Russia. In Australia you've got floods the size of France and Germany combined. Then there's drought in Texas—out of 254 counties in Texas, 252 are on fire. In Nashville, where the city lost the equivalent of an entire year's budget from recent floods—the area has never been flooded like this before, so no one had flood insurance.

Al Gore & Wubbo Ockels in Groningen

That's the reality we've got to focus on. His presentation is a defence of the science and the scientists, against the timeworn claims by deniers.

 A man walks down the street

 It's a street in a strange world

 Maybe it's the Third World

 Maybe it's his first time around

 He doesn't speak the language

 He holds no currency

 He is a foreign man

 He is surrounded by the sound

 The sound

 Cattle in the marketplace

 Scatterlings and orphanages

The Invitation:

Invitation to Mr Al Gore

When we allow a sustainable world, when we let it sing from every village and every

town, from every city and every country, we will be able to take hands and sing

"With our own two hands we can change the world".

We, members of the faith communities of southern Africa, are organising a rally of faith members to be held in the Kings Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa, on the afternoon of 27^th November 2011, the day before the UN climate talks, the 17^th Conference of Parties (COP), commences.

The purpose of the rally is to call on our political leaders to put ethics and life ahead of national self-interest.  We believe moral principles – and not profit and economic gain – should be applied in the negotiations in order to secure our common future.   Since climate change is the greatest threat to have confronted humanity, we shall show that the people of Africa – and the world - are already experiencing its negative effects, call for a fair and legally binding agreement with a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol and pray for the success of COP17

iStart2 is a “sustainability through the arts” initiative, helping us to make contact with world leaders. Their goal is to launch a movement in which the global community will participate in re-imagining and implementing solutions towards ensuring a sustainable future for our children.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu will be hosting this event with 52 000 faith members and religious leaders from Africa and around the world.  It should receive world TV coverage.  We write to ask if you would be prepared to participate in this event where we will call on the governments of the world to arrive at a meaningful agreement.

We extend very warm greetings and good wishes to you. Hope to hear from you soon.

Bishop Geoff Davies                                                                            

Executive Director, SAFCEI

This invitation is extended by the Southern African Faith Communities' Environment Institute (SAFCEI) which is a multi-faith NGO working with a coalition of African and world-wide faith and justice organizations.

 He looks around, around

 He sees angels in the architecture

 Spinning in infinity

 He says Amen and Hallelujah!

Have you had a chance to check out the Climate Reality Project’s short video called Grassroots? If not, I would highly recommend giving it a look. The message of the video, four and a half minutes long and narrated by Al Gore, is very straightforward: Against all odds, grassroots movements in the past have successfully pushed their leaders for wide-scale political change. Now it’s time for everyday citizens to join another grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis... iStart2 ... join our launch on 27 November 2011 :-) 

GRASSROOTS from The Climate Reality Project on Vimeo.

 If you'll be my bodyguard

 I can be your long lost pal

 I can call you iStart2

 And iStart2 when you call me

 You can call me Al

 Call me Al

iStart2 join the Climate Reality.

Conquest of Paradise ... With my own two hands

There shines a light in the heart of man
That defies the dead of the night
A beam that glows within every soul
Like wings of hope taking flight

I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make it a better place
With my own two hands

A sunny day, when a baby's born
The little things that we say
A special sparkle in someone's eye

Simple gifts, every day

Make it a kinder place
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands

(Barcelona, Spain, May 2011)

Somewhere there's a paradise
Where everyone finds release
It's here on earth and between your eyes

A place we all find our peace

I can make peace on earth
With my own two hands
I can clean up the earth
With my own two hands

Come - open your heart
Reach for the stars
Believe your own power

I'm going to make it a brighter place
With my own two hands
I'm going to make it a safer place
With my own two hands

(Barcelona, Spain, May 2011)

Now, here in this place
Here on this earth
This is the hour
It's just a place we call paradise

I'm going to help the human race
With my own two hands
With my own

Each of us has his own
It has no name, no, it has no price
It's just a place we call home
A dream that reaches beyond the stars

With my own two hands
I can hold you
With my own two hands

The endless blue of the skies
Forever wondering who we are?
Forever questioning why?

I can comfort you
With my own two hands

But you've got to use
Use your own two hands
Use your own
Use your own two hands

There shines a light in the heart of man
That defies the dead of the night
A beam that glows within every soul
Like wings of hope taking flight
Like wings of hope taking flight

With our own
With our own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands

(Dana Winner & Vangelis - Conquest of Paradise; Jack Johnson Ben Harper - With my own two hands)




iStart2 ... use my own two hands :-)