Watch this special message from CTII Chairperson, Rev Berry Behr, as we join the world in celebrating International Golden Rule Day.
CTII statement on Covid-19
On Sunday 15 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered an unprecedented statement taking South Africa into a proactive, focused and committed effort to contain the Corona virus (Covid-19).
Cape Town Interfaith Initiative urges people of all faiths and none to fully enter into the spirit of the measures which are designed to minimise the effect of the virus, not out of fear but out of loving consideration for each other.
Helping means washing our hands and doing this:
- Greet with gestures such as the hand on the heart, or hands together in the “Namaste” greeting.
- CTII will hold meetings via zoom wherever possible, and will not host, attend or promote gatherings. To be reveiwed on 14 April 2020.
- Many places of worship are closing their doors during this time. CTII endorses the move to a different kind of pastoral care. For instance, there will be many children at home whose parents have to continue working. Where we can, let us reach out to help keep them safe, and all those who are vulnerable.
- If you can buy one extra sanitiser for someone who can’t afford it, please do. Such small gestures of kindness will profoundly affect the way we co-create our new world.
Social distancing has proven the most effective method for limiting the spread of viruses. Although we are a small organisation, we know that many small gestures of sincere effort create a culture of mindfulness and an environment of care.
We celebrate the gifts we still enjoy: the sun, the soil which supports our feet and produces food, water and the kindness, compassion and courage of the human spirit.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:…a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing…” Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 5
For Christians, Covid-19 has arrived in South Africa during the time of Lent, a sacred time of prayer and fasting.
Muslims are observing the holy month of Rajab, a time of deep respect for life and preparation for Ramadan.
The Baha’i community is observing their month of Fasting, an opportunity to align with the Will of God.
The Jewish community just celebrated Purim, a festival of deliverance.
Mid April this year, Christians will celebrate Easter and Jews will celebrate Pesach. This is a time of redemption, salvation, renewed life and renewed commitment to personal responsibility for how we choose to engage with life going forward.
CTII encourages a deepening of spiritual practice, with voluntary withdrawal into meditation, deep contemplation and thoughtfulness about our changing world and how we can support our planet and each other.
May peace prevail on Earth, and may it begin with us.
7 Sacred Days in Cape Town for World Interfaith Harmony Week 2020
In celebration of UN World Interfaith Harmony Week 01 – 07 February 2020, we are presenting a first ever Interfaith, Intercultural pilgrimage, inviting our friends in interfaith from all over the world to join us. Here is the provisional itinerary.
Day Zero: Friday 31 January 2020
Arrive at Cape Town International Airport:
Welcome to Cape Town, a proud City of Compassion known the world over and with good reason as “The Mother City”. After a warm welcome at Cape Town International Airport (rendezvous 12 noon at the Mugg and Bean coffee shop) we will transfer to a comfortable local guesthouse where you can refresh, relax and settle in. We’ll introduce ourselves over dinner, setting our intentions for the week ahead, then enjoy an early evening in preparation for our deep dive into Cape Town’s faith life.
Day 1: Saturday 1 February 2020
A gentle start to your Interfaith experience! After a leisurely breakfast, we join a group of interfaith leaders from notorious Cape Flats for a visit to Ananda Kutir Ashram. There, the practitioners of Integral Yoga will be hosting us to lunch and an afternoon of gentle wisdoms about Life and Peace with Swami Vidyananda and Mother Yogeshwari. Ananda Kutir Ashram is affiliated to the Divine Life Society of Rishikesh, India.
A sunset beach walk will conclude our day before we head back to our accommodation for a lovingly prepared, vegetarian Cape meal and an evening of gentle discussion.
Day 2: Sunday 2 February 2020
It’s our day of celebration! The first Sunday in February is the date of Prayers for the City, the event which was awarded the HM King Abdullah II Prize for the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week 2019 and which inspired this tour. This year, we return to our 2019 venue – a vacant plot in a battle-weary and economically challenged area called Elsie’s River. As we did in 2019, we unite with Elsie’s River NGO Faith Hope Love Communities to support the community’s commitment to taking back their suburb from the gang and criminal activity that threatens them every day. Our visitors will have the opportunity to engage with honoured guests including the Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman Dan Plato, as well as a host of community members.
Day 3: Monday 3 February
A weather-dependent trip to Robben Island, the famous island prison that housed the political leadership of the anti apartheid movement. This is an important context for our work because Nelson Mandela was a firm believer in the power and importance of interfaith harmony. His deep connection with various faiths is legendary and a model for leaders everywhere.
Day 4: Tuesday 4 February
Islamic day. First stop is the famous District Six museum where we learn the history of forced removals and family tragedies endured by a multifaith, multicultural community in bygone years. Our route takes us to the nearby Al-Azhar Mosque where we enjoy the hospitality of Sheikh Ismail Keraan before moving on to the Tana Baru Cemetry in Bo-Kaap – the first Muslim burial ground acknowledged by the SA government back in 1805. With master-historian and struggle veteran Mohammad Groenewald, we explore the issues of exploitation, crime and gentrification jostling for power in the local struggle to preserve this precious heritage.
We lunch in the Bo-Kaap and experience Cape Town’s unique heritage flavours, savouring the opportunity for an afternoon of in-depth conversation with local wisdom keepers of the Interfaith community.
Day 5: Wednesday 5 February
We join a group of Interfaith Leaders for a visit to the historic Catholic Cathedral, St Mary’s, more formally known as the Cathedral of our Lady of the Flight into Egypt. We will be welcomed to St Mary’s by none other than His Grace the Archbishop of Cape Town himself – a highlight in a week of highlights.
As we continue our pilgrimage, we’ll enjoy a light lunch and reflection on our morning’s experience before our appointment at Groote Kerk, the home of the Dutch Reformed Church. Historically, this is the church that provided theological justification for the apartheid system… and is now working hard under dynamic leadership to heal the wounds of the past and make restitution. Open Hearts Open Minds internet café within the sanctity of this Church will be our sacred dialogue in search of healing through interfaith harmony.
After dinner, we will join the Jewish Community for an Interfaith Concert in celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week 2020.
Day 6: Thursday 6 February
A gentle day, and the opportunity to explore some of the Cape’s most beautiful, unique scenery before the evening session. Knowing that Interfaith Harmony is an emerging superpower in the healing of the world, we will be joining the Brahma Kumaris for an evening conversation “Celebrating Dialogue towards Harmony”. This is how we tell our own story, in Cape Town, and we are looking forward to sharing it with you.
Day 7: Friday 7 February
We are invited by the historic Claremont Mosque to join them for midday prayers. Tour leader Rev Berry Behr is honoured to deliver the sermon at this service, in honour of World Interfaith Harmony Week’s 10th Anniversary.
Our week concludes with a celebration hosted by the Progressive Jewish community at Temple Israel, Green Point, for a special musical Shabbat Rina service. We break bread together after the service, in gratitude for our community anchored in Cape Town and for you, our honoured guest who is family now.
Departure Day: Saturday 8 February
We recommend a day of rest before you travel, but here’s a thought…
You are in Cape Town, a gateway into the deeper mysteries of Africa, so speak to us about options for an onward tour. Visit the Sacred White Lions of the Timbavati or the extraordinary Inzawo ye langa – Birthplace of the Sun, an ancient circle of stones on a mountain top in the province of Mpumalanga. You could visit the only dedicated Tiger sanctuary in Africa, explore Namibia, take in the Garden Route, the Karoo, the Kruger National Park – or simply stay in Cape Town to experience more of our city’s many rich offerings.
It’s been a week, we’ve loved having you. We hope you will be leaving us with an uplifted sense that there is so much good in the world, and it lives everywhere in the hearts and minds of all those who embrace inclusiveness, kindness, compassion and peace.
We hope you’ll take something of our spirit of interfaith harmony home with you… and may it bless your path, and all those you meet along the way.
Tour cost: US $ 1800 / R25 000
Includes Accommodation, Meals, local transport and all entertainment and entry fees in Cape Town – so all you have to do is get to Cape Town and we look after you from there.
Exclusions: Personal purchases, gratuities, alcoholic drinks, between meal snacks.
Please note this itinerary is subject to change without notice but we do have back up plans in case of poor weather or other unforeseen circumstances. If you have physical concerns, don’t let them exclude you! Please discuss your needs with us so that we can make sure to accommodate them wherever possible. Bookings: Berry Behr ctii.capetown@gmail.com – Limited to 12 places. 50% non refundable deposit secures your spot, balance due 15 January 2020.
- Special South African student rate R600 per day excludes accommodation (6 spots available)
- Special South African day rate available for Capetonians R750 excludes Accommodation (6 spots available)
Receiving the WIHW Prize in Jordan
The unexpected blessing of winning the 2019 HM King Abdullah II prize for our work during the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week will help us to amplify the message of Interfaith Harmony in the world and will give us a platform for meaningful partnership on so many levels with those who work equally hard for the common purpose of peace on Earth.
Our Chairperson, Berry Behr, and the founder of Faith Hope Love Communities of Elsie’s River, James Ellman, travelled to Jordan to accept the prize. James is also a founding member of Cape Town Interfaith Initiative and is a current member of our Advisory Council.
Prayers for the City was started by Cape Town Interfaith Initiative some years ago, and in 2015 was anchored on the first Sunday in February by then Chairman Rev Gordon Oliver, in order to bring it into line with World Interfaith Harmony Week.
This year, instead of holding the Prayers in the City Centre we decided at the invitation of Faith Hope Love Communities to take the Prayers to the people. We chose a site in Elsie’s River that had been recently reclaimed by the community after it had become a crime hotspot. We walked from the Mosque to the site, symbolically supporting the people of Elsie’s River in their bid to take back their streets, and to bless the land that had been reclaimed. It was a humble event, held under a cloudy Cape Town sky, and we never for a moment expected it to receive such wonderful international attention.
The trip to Jordan was extraordinary.
For both Berry and James, spending Holy Week in the Holy Land was beyond anything we could have imagined. Every person we met was a gift, every new day was an anointing. There were so many moments of pure reverence, such as standing at the Citadel on top of one of Amman’s seven hills, listening to the call to prayer reverberate around the city. We felt as if we could almost touch the collective prayers rising up from the city of Amman, to heaven. How appropriate, seeing as the event that won us the prize was entitled Love of the neighbour – Our Prayers for our city. We visited the sacred site of the Baptism of Jesus, and the cave in which John the Baptist lived… We went to Petra, the legendary city carved into the pink sandstone rock and home to a series of powerful civilisations in its 3000 year history.
And then, of course, we went to the Palace. His Majesty was a warm and gracious host, encouraging us to continue our work and to keep talking about the message of interfaith harmony and its importance in the world today.
We returned home inspired, motivated and determined to redouble our efforts. Our earnest prayer is that we will be able to use our voice and our prize to create a sustainable platform for our own continued interfaith mission, and also that we will be able to encourage the many, many other grassroots organisations in our region to keep up their amazing, heart-centred work.
Elsie’s River Man wins royal peace prize – Cape Argus, 7 May 2019
Winners’ Speech at World Interfaith Harmony Prize Giving Ceremony
CTII Wins First Prize for World Interfaith Harmony Week
World Interfaith Harmony Week was a beautiful and busy week for CTII as we set out to celebrate, educate and honour interfaith harmony in every way we could. We were therefore beyond delighted, when we were announced as the First Prize winners for World Interfaith Harmony Week, for our Prayers for the City event, Love of Neighbour – our Prayers for our City.
The judges received 170 applications for the prize from over 1,454 events held globally. And so this prize comes as a huge encouragement to interfaith work in Cape Town.
See the full announcement here: https://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/2019-winners/