A Peace and Human Rights Pilgrimage took place on Robben Island, Cape Town on Mar 28, 2026. The guided walk is a collaboration between the Robben Island Museum and St George’s Cathedral. It occurred during Human Rights month in South Africa, but also amidst war and human rights abuses globally.
The CTII and our Youth Interfaith Intercultural Program were well represented. Here are some of the reflections:
Continue reading “Robben Island Peace & Human Rights Pilgrimage”
Jenny Canau, Cecil Plaatjies, Ann Paton, Aidon Allies of the CTII, together with the Sasnev cat led a fascinating session on nonviolent communication (NVC) as session 2 of the YIIP 2026 Grade 11 program.
Continue reading “Nonviolent communication (YIIP 11-2)”
The second session of the Grade 10 2026 YIIP program took place at the new venue, Sasnev Cultural Centre in Pinelands. Eight voices each with powerful stories of working for justice and truth presented themselves to the learners, in a rare and profound experience of shared mentorship.
Continue reading “The Diversity of Activism”
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.
Contact us if you are interested and not already part of our community.
