It was a delight to be invited to the Michael Oak Waldorf School on Friday 27 February to talk to the matric religious studies class. Teacher Roy Davids curated the space very well and this “ad-hoc” (non YIIP) schools encounter follows on from CTII our presentation to Springfield Convent last year.
The CTII provides a service to schools who want to deepen the interfaith awareness in their own environments. Sarah Oliver, Veli Ntsume and myself attended, together with Veli’s daughter Sam, a theology graduate from Stellenbosch university.
Roy’s brief was for the CTII to address: * A history of the CTII, why, when and by whom it was formed? * The activities that it was and is currently involved in? * The people that make up the CTII and how people can become more involved in the organisation?
The presentation flowed well, and we gave background and history of the CTII referring to its birth out of the Parliament of the World’s Religions after the 1999 meeting in Cape Town. We spoke of the international networks such as URI and the Charter for Compassion.
Interesting questions were raised by the matrics, concerning the place of atheists in interfaith, and the challenges faced by interfaith activists. We mentioned political fragmentation and the absence of religious leaders in interfaith as 2 examples. And as we so often do said that at the CTII “all faiths, and none” are welcome.
CTII is one of 70 organisations chosen from over 4000 applicants across the continent of Africa to take part in the 3rd New Africa Fund cohort. We are now eligible to benefit from their AIFG: the Africa Impact Fundraising Grant.
Our achievements, including the YIIP Schools program, and an effective 2025 year with dialogs and interfaith and intercultural social events, caught the eye of the NAF. The AIFG model meets all funds raised up to $5000 US with matching donations, putting the onus on us to own and manage our fundraising. The last cohort raised 70% of its money from inside the African continent, making it a largely indigenous endeavor.
March is the “challenge month” in which we as the CTII focus on our funding goal. All funds raised in March will qualify for the matching AIFG grant. And as we are aware this is also Ramadan, and the season of Lent: a time of renewal through reflection, discipline and giving.
Venture philanthropy such as that of the NAF, seeks to use many of the venture capitalist’s tools, like matched funding, but with an outcome of social impact rather than profit.
Previous grantees known to us include the late Imam Muhsin Hendricks’s Al-Gurbaah, the only South African organisation in amongst a continent-wide range of NGOs.
As we see it, funding is an extension of what we do already… the creation of community across faith and cultural boundaries. Via dialog and friendship we seek to bridge divides and create new common ground for the fulfillment of the ubuntu spirituality that is at our heart.
Funding is one expression of our interdependence, where resources are brought together for the common good; this good includes our talents, our time, tithes/treasure, and crucially our ties – the connections with others and the being part of a network.
(We have started a BackaBuddy crowdfunding campaign before we knew about our being chosen for the NAF and it remains active, however we are targeting the New Africa Fund over the month of March).
If you care about interfaith and intercultural connection, please consider how you might be part of our challenge.
Commit to communicating with 5 people over March with a possibility of raising funds for CTII and its programs through them or via them to other potentially interested partners. Take time to explain how our unique organisation creates dialog, builds community, and promotes interfaith and intercultural education with a strong youth focus.
See yourself as an empowered part of our resourcing and fundraising. Include yourself!
Commit time to building long-term interfaith and intercultural relationships.
Share your ties communicating with anyone you feel might be interested in the CTII.
Be a direct giver of treasure – your money or tithes, or invite others to give.
Offer your talents through creative expressions of interconnectedness and network building.
Contact us if you are interested and not already part of our community.
On Sunday 15 February 2026 we took part in a memorial service for the slain Imam Muhsin Hendricks. It was a bittersweet day as we remembered the brutal manner in which his life ended, the unsolved murder case, and celebrated his life, lived beautifully. Sadness flowed freely with gratitude, as did mourning and resolute determination to do good.
Rev Laurie Gaum with Dean Terry Lester
Dean Terry Lester opened the event at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. Rev. Laurie Gaum from CTII (& The Queer Faith Collective & Genderworx) did a stunning job as the MC.
The event opened with a Dhikr ceremony (remembrance) led by Ziyaad Follentine, on a big prayer carpet in front of the altar steps.
The Dhikr
Key organising partners were Muhsin’s Al-Ghurbaah Foundation, The Queer Faith Collective, and the CTII.
Words of support from different parts of the country and from abroad were shared, including the USA, Kenya, Canada, the UK, and Germany.
The Heindrich Böll Foundation, the Global Interfaith Network (GIN-SSIGIE), LGBTQIA Traditional Healers Forum, and SA Jews for a Free Palestine, and Inclusive & Affirming Ministries (IAM) also made heartfelt offerings. All presences both in person and by video or remotely were appreciated.
Ven. Rev. Nima Taylor from the Unitarian Church and CTII closed, shared her experience of Muhsin, recalling his deep humanity. And his style.
I was particularly touched by a poem, “My Dua is Love” by Sanah Ahsan, a published poet from the UK.
Poet Sanah Ahsan
The CTII Choir performed between the talks. Their first song was beautifully introduced by Anouschka, a member of the CTII Schools Programme.
Jody and Anouschka of CTII Youth Program
The audience immediately paid attention when the choir started with La ilaha ilalah. Many left their seats to get closer to the choir. The same happened during the performance of the other three songs.
CTII Community Choir
We appreciated all who attended. The event was livestreamed and is available on YouTube.
We are saddened that only a few people from the Muslim community attended. There was a complete absence of progressive Muslim leaders and activists, who are CTII members and interfaith partners. This was an opportunity to stand up for justice, stand against crime, uphold human dignity and remember one of our own, that was missed.
We have immense compassion for those who cannot transcend their differences in order to stand for what is right, and will continue to create spaces for everyone to be spiritually free.
After the service, a protest was held presenting a memorandum to the South African Police Services and placing an effigy representing Muhsin and the absence of closure for us all, in front of the police station.
It’s February the 1st, and big day for us at the CTII.
For one, it’s the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week. We have a strong tie to this event: in 2019, the CTII were the joint recipients of its prize, for our “Prayers in the City” held in Elsies River (together with FHLM), a grassroots version of what had been a regular annual event. (The banner picture for our site is from this event).
Secondly, we have launched a 2-month fundraising campaign “CTII Schools Project 2026” on the BackaBuddy platform in which we hope to enable our very successful Youth Interfaith Program (YIIP) to run this year. This is a new step for us; up until now our funds have been via private donations.
We now want to expand our reach to meet the demand for interfaith education and organisation, and actively take up our responsibility as a competent and empowered NGO. Our goal is to raise R120,000 to make the two-year Schools Program possible for 70 Grade 10 and 11 learners in 2026. It costs approximately R1700 per learner.
As a key evidence to the effectiveness of the 2025 program, here are 2 quotes, from a Muslim and a Jewish learner respectively:
“Before I entered the Interfaith Programme, I pretty much saw my religion … as the only correct religion … But interfaith really … changed the way I viewed life. The Programme really helped me create friendships… those are friendships that will last a lifetime.”
“It taught me that different faiths don’t have to divide us, they can bring us closer through understanding and respect. I’m grateful to have had this opportunity to learn, to connect, and to see the world through new eyes.”
Interfaith is, by its very definition, an act of giving. Falling between recognised religious groupings, it can be viewed with skepticism and even suspicion. Believers are not quick to associate with those outside their circles, and religious leaders are often duty-bound to keep people inside their folds. To merely be present to “the other” requires a generous heart.
Giving is a universal virtue. And there are many ways to give. Pippa Jones quotes a profound teaching by August Gold of the Sacred Centre New York. Simply put, it is list of 4 ways to give:
Time
Talent
Ties
Treasure
Time means overcoming your busy-ness for the greater good. Being available, available for works of service, for prayerful considerations, for beautiful, or for brave conversations, for building a friendship.
Talent means bringing your strengths, your experience and expertise, and using these to build community. True leadership is not about gaining an upper hand in a game of power, but in doing the thing in which you excel. It also means collaborating where your talents might be limited.
Ties are our connections, the heart of ubuntu – I am (a node) because we are (a network). When we share not just what, but who we know, magic often happens. The sum becomes greater than the parts, and we can as the African proverbs says, go far together, not just fast, alone.
complete your task seek no reward make no claims [Daodejing 30]
The CTII is a thriving organization precisely because it is comprised of volunteers having given freely of their time, talent and ties. Our big challenge now, especially with our flagship YIIP program, is funds.
Treasure, then, is our resources in goods and money, are often the weak point in the life of NGO’s. Traditional religious organisation have their ways of doing this, for example through Christian tithing, Islamic sadaqah and zakat, and even barter-like giving systems like the Buddhist dana.
“The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed which grows seven spikes; in each spike is a hundred grains…” [Surah Al-Baqarah 2:261]
And sadly, due to many kinds of corruption, money it is too often the cause of great suffering and disrepute rather than the alleviation of that suffering.
So, despite these challenges, we are embarking on a program of fundraising and we invite you to be involved. You may be well-off and can afford to support us. Please do and take direct part in a better future for our world. Or you may have little or nothing in the way of money to contribute. There is no shame at all in this.
“All these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” [Luke 21:4]
But together, via our pooled resources – time, talents, ties and treasure – we can reach our target and continue building the interfaith and intercultural leadership of tomorrow.
Thank you for reading, and may you have a blessed week of harmony!
2025 was an exceptional year for the CTII YIIP, or Youth Interfaith Intercultural Program.
Director Pippa Jones has put together a well illustrated report detailing the program, its background, and its participants.
The YIIP is an impressive achievement with a solid track record, and is poised to really make a difference in a world that desperately needs what it offers.
What the program now needs is funding, to take forward a well tried, effective model. We will be launching our campaign shortly, and hope that you will be involved.
