Dick, This was a lovely reflection on the Global Conference held in Africa. Somehow, the personal reflections tell me more than the written reports! So glad you are well and continuing your support for Africa and its many elements. Ruth
On Nov 9, 2025, at 8:38 AM, Richard Alton <richard.alton@gmail.com> wrote:
The Smoke That Thunders
The ICA has tried to have a global conference in Africa for many years and now we have finally done it. People from 20 countries (10 from Africa) gathered in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to look at how we all are responding to the times we are living in. At these conferences one is always shocked by the people one meets and the projects one visits. Although the Falls, the smoke that thunders, is amazing.
I was struck on the first day by a Maasai women fully dressed in her tribal garb. We broke into our working groups, and I found we were in the same group, Climate Change. Her name was Josephine Ndirias from Kenya. She turns out to be the Executive Director of the Mukogodo Girls Empowerment program. It turns out she is from Nanyuki, Kenya. I had been to Nanyuki to visit the ICA Canada project, ilnqwesi, and had lunch with one of the Maasai leaders, Saaya, who turned out to be Josehine’s cousin. “My goodness, what a small world.” It turns out that Josehine’s work is the continuation of the Maasai work started by by Asha Spencer and Miriam Patterson many years ago. Asha and Miriam were there in Nanyuki for a year. We spend the next couple of days chatting about people we knew- Josehine’ still talks with Miriam Patterson on a regular basis. And we went through all the people I use to know: the late Vice President Biwott who use to demand money and vehicles from ICA if we cared about our lives. I was totally startled by Josphine and our meeting. We could have spoken together for the whole Conference. Conferences do that for you- the people you meet! Over 100 people to meet in person. Wow, 4 from China and one from Hong Kong plus 15 from Nepal.
But not only the people but the projects you visit! We visited Ele Collection (www.elecollection.co <http://www.elecollection.co/>) whose purpose is to Remove all Plastics. They have women plastic bottle collectors all over the Town/Park collecting bottles. They pay them by the pound. The Ele-Collections says its goal is to clear Victoria Falls and the National Park of Plastics. Ele processes the plastic bottles into building and road material which they sell. This all came about from the owner and a friend walking in the National Park and being attacked by an elephant. The owner’s friend was killed. They finally killed the elephant. When they opened the elephant’s stomach, they found it was full of plastic bottles. No wonder the elephant was mad! Ele Collection is about saving the animals from the scourge of plastics. Ele is a business who gets a lot of support from local companies and is constantly expanding. We were all struck by the methodology and skills shown. They claim they are the only local plastic re-cycling system in the world. We had to come all the way to Victoria Falls to find them.
On the way to Victoria Falls I read two books. Just finished Paul Kingsnorth book, Against the Machine, on the Unmaking of Humanity. He points out that we are facing “increasingly impossible lives in the high-tech globalized world that has resulted from the consumer economy”. We are slowly being capture by a world that is unreal and losing a sense of being human. This second book, Inspiring Transformative Change, is on image shift and its focus on enabling group processing is what will allow us to rediscover the real world of personal interaction and human consciousness. The Change book is written by Elise Packard and Jane Stallman. It will come out in early 2026.
Great Conference- the people and projects were worth it. Conferencing is an amazing way to find the Human Element in Global Development! Go Africa, where we all find our roots!
Dick Alton, lives with ICA’s Greenrise Community, helps manage ICA USA’s Global Fund and way too involved in the Methodist Church’s Net Zero by 2050. Getting ready for his 84th birthday.
Southern Africa is gifted with
On Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 10:29 AM Richard Alton <richard.alton@gmail.com <mailto:richard.alton@gmail.com>> wrote:
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-- Richard H. T. Alton ICA Global Fund United Methodist Creation Care The Last Chapter T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton@gmail.com <mailto:richard.alton@gmail.com> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?