The last few years have been brutal for most, if not all of us. NGOs, churches, and other not-for-profit organisations have been particularly hard hit in terms of financial income, volunteer fatigue, and uncertainty about the future. Isiphambano is no different. Our staff and volunteers have worked incredibly hard over the past few years to keep the doors open and to keep us engaging on issues of cross-centred and contextual…
Land in South Africa today remains a critical issue for which people have fought for, been moved from, legislated for, and even gone to prison for. Land is intricately tied up to not only economic stability but also identity and belonging. What is significant is just how much of that land the church owns - more than 180 000 hectares. How could churches begin to use this land to start…
In part two of our Redeeming Reconciliation series (watch part one here) Ryan Saville sat down with One Mokgatle and Jennie Tsekwa to talk about the practicalities of reconciliation. How do we actually practice reconciliation when our country and our churches remain so divided and divisive? How do we work towards deep and meaningful reconciliation in a context saturated with cheap concepts of reconciliation? What do meaningful acts of reconciliation…
Isiphambano Centre for Biblical Justice is a study and training centre dedicated to developing a holistic, theological and cross-centred response to racial and economic injustice within the South African context.
O, Father, you know my heart, you know my fears and worries, you know my disappointment, my temptation to give in and give up. You are the Creator of these people, in this, your world; you are the Creator of me, in this, your world. You ordain steps, and you’ve brought us here; and yet you know my heart full of questions. You hem me in, behind and before, and…
Brackenfell wat wil jy my vertel? Vertel van die stryd Oor ‘n aand Wat min anders was as laas Saterdag aand Want elke aand sit ons bymekaar, Met min mense wat staar, Want ons almal lyk en klink soos mekaar.
My two-year-old has recently learned the word MINE - “It’s not yours it’s MINE”. He says this with such conviction, snatching away anything you might have dared to touch - even if the item actually belongs to someone else. He’s developed an obsession with possession. Dare to mention the sh word… ‘share’, and a meltdown might ensue. Even when there is objectively more than enough to go around. As a…
One afternoon my children and I drove past a school where the students coming out and parents waiting were overwhelmingly white. Less than a kilometre away, on the same street, we drove past another school, where the students and parents were only black or coloured. My son noticed this and asked me why there was such a different picture outside these two schools, so close and yet so far. Another…
Continuing our intermittent Stories of Hope series, Alphonso and John sat down with Brandon Weber from Hope Africa Collective to talk about their work in youth development and community transformation. Listen in as they discuss the holistic, multidimensional nature of poverty; the role which our history and our context play in the narratives we believe about ourselves and each other, and how these narratives continue to entrench and perpetuate poverty.…
What do we make of the past ten days in South Africa? How do we process the violent protests, looting, food shortages, apartheid-style racial profiling, and restriction of access to shops and communities? How do we sort through the short-term and long-term impact on our country? What are the underlying causes and how does...
Reconciliation has become something of a dirty word in South Africa, synonymous with a cheap reconciliation and a superficial notion of societal change. A concept which asks much of black people whilst asking relatively little of white people in return. A concept which deals with individual forgiveness but leaves unjust structural systems largely untouched. Nowhere...
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