Cele Esau is a lay leader for social justice and special services in the Cape Town Unitarian (CTU) community. With their youngest child, John, Cele recently participated in successful protests against Shell’s proposed oil and gas seismic exploration off the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape. If you want to get involved with CTU’s social justice work, contact Nolu at community@capetownunitarians.org.
If I think back two years ago, this kind of social justice activity was nowhere on my radar. Going to Faith Leader Environmental Activist Training (FLEAT) with the South African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI), connecting with others and realizing what social activism is really about, really launched me on this path of standing in the gap however I can.
Young Climate Voices featured John, Cele’s son, on their Instagram page late last year.
And for John to come on board, it makes me feel both proud and inspired. In many of the interviews that he does, he will mention the fact that, number one, climate change is not “something that’s happening over there and doesn’t touch me” kind of thing. And number two, he’ll say things like, “You can’t really rely on the adults to do the right thing.”
So, you can’t wait and see what happens. You have to do something now. I think that messaging really goes for all of us and I try to put it in our CTU community as well.