ALMA (our diocesan link with Mozambique and Angola)
With rising global surface temperatures, intensifying droughts and more extreme storms, climate change is affecting our brothers and sisters across the globe, especially with our diocesan partners in Angola and Mozambique.
There is no doubt that the effects of Climate Change are here to stay and will affect us all. Since 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published special reports on climate change which have detailed how the rise of temperatures are affecting life global for all people especially those in the developing world.
ALMA is the diocesan companion link partnership between the Anglican Church in Angola, London and Mozambique. The focus of the Appeal is to raise money to buy powerful trucks to help churches and Bishops provide instant practical help where it is needed following the extreme climatic events that are happening due to climate change.
An example of our work was the provision of cars and trucks for the four dioceses that span across these two massive African countries. Now the churches in these areas need new up-to-date jeeps to help them deal with the worst climatic weather systems the southern hemisphere has ever seen. In Southern Africa, the churches and bishops need to give instant and practical help where it is needed, immediately these extreme climatic events allow access to the areas.
Angola
In this western African country, the newly created diocese needs to respond with one truck to an area the size of 481,321 sq. mi., twice the size of France or of Texas. Here Angola is faces significant droughts in the south and has been exacerbated by below average, and erratic, rainfall. According to USAID, the country is responding to climate variability after nearly three decades of civil war. “Extreme rainfall events and temperature changes are expanding the range and transmission period for disease vectors. Sea level rise is placing coastal populations (approximately 50 percent of the total population) and infrastructure at risk of inundation and storm surge.” 2.3 million people are in need. The government had declared an emergency in the three southern provinces of Cunene, Huila and Namibe. Angola has been pursuing a humanitarian self-reliance policy but there has been an inadequate humanitarian response to address urgent needs and the situation is deteriorating.
Mozambique
In this eastern African country, the Diocese of London is associated with the three dioceses of Lebombo, Nampula and Niassa, together they are covering a land mass the size of Turkey or 309,475 sq mi (801,537 km2 ), it is the world’s 36th-largest country. For each diocese there is one truck. In recent years flash flooding has hit parts of Mozambique as the area is still attempting to recover from the recent cyclones.
Here more than 1.7 million people were identified as ‘in crisis’ between September and December 2018 across 11 provinces. As a result of recent an estimated 1.85 million are now in need of aid. Recent information from USAID has highlighted acute food shortages in those areas.
We hold an ALMA Morning Prayer each Wednesday to enable us to pray together as a Partnership in the Gospel, and you are warmly invited to join us. You can find the latest ALMA Morning Prayer on the ALMA YouTube channel.