Virag Kinga Mezei is a Hungarian intern for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. With a passion for human rights, she regularly engages in discussions while also getting training through the WCC on mechanisms that lead to the achievement of racial and social justice.

With a combination of joyous celebration and thorough research, women and men gathered at the University of Botswana from 1-4 July under the theme “Mother Earth, Mother Africa in theological/Religious/Cultural/Philosophical Imagination.” Eighty papers were presented, and participants came from South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and other African countries and the diaspora. All were brought together by their concern on ecological degradation.

Millions of churches, mosques, synagogues and temples around the world that embrace sustainability in their investments, buildings and teachings are a symbol of hope for the planet struggling with an ecological crisis, said Joyce Msuya, a Tanzanian microbiologist who is the deputy executive director for the Nairobi-based UN Environment.