Recycling Effort and One Great Hour of Sharing

Inanda Seminary received funds from One Great Hour of Sharing to assist Inanda Seminary to ‘go green’

Genesis 1:11
 
“And God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.'”
 
On September 7, 2012, YES recycling delivered five new recycling stations funded by One Great Hour of Sharing to Inanda Seminary, a Christian school for black females in kwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.  The school’s Development Manager, Scott Couper, and Principal, Judy Tate, initiated a recycling program on campus in 2010.  Since then, the recycling effort has grown from strength to strength.   The school realized that it could improve recycling compliance if there were more recycling stations in more places.  Thanks to funding from One Great Hour of Sharing, the school installed additional stations (plastic, paper/cardboard, cans, and Tetra-Pak) in each of the four dormitories and at the sports fields.
 
Inanda Seminary has an active Environmental Club as well as Recycling Monitors, so the students themselves participate in the program.  Students learn how recycled materials save the school money by reducing the amount of trash to be collected, earns a modest amount of income as recycling companies pay for materials, decreases the amount of trash placed in landfills, and assists in maintaining a cleaner environment.  Because Inanda Seminary is a boarding school, recycling becomes an ethic and a habit that is brought back to their homes when school is on break.  In this way, Inanda Seminary educates families and communities by extension.  Resident families on campus are also enthusiastic.  Over 500 people reside on campus when school is in session, so the recycled waste collected is substantive!  Most importantly, the Chaplain, Susan Valiquette, teaches that preserving the environment is an act of faith, an expression of our love of God and Creation.
 
Inanda Seminary’s recycling program attracts a great deal of attention from the public.  Inanda Seminary hopes to develop some of the church’s vacant land for environmental education and recreation.  Both its own students as well as for those that attend local schools in the community will benefit.  As a national heritage site, Inanda Seminary is a key node for tourism and it is linking itself to other eco-tourism attractions.  The recycling program is a means towards bigger initiatives such as establishing a wetlands preserve, stream reclamation, alien plant eradication, and the re-introduction of indigenous plants and trees.  When it comes to environmental preservation, “the sky’s the limit!”
 
Thank you One great Hour of Sharing for your gift, your donation to our environment through Inanda Seminary.
 
Prayer:
“Gracious God, thank you for the world in which we inhabit.  Inspire us to preserve it.  Give us the wisdom to live in harmony with it.  Amen.”

Scott Couper, a member of First Congregational Church, Winter Park, Florida, serves with the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). He assists the Inanda Seminary in strategic planning and serve as a management consultant. He also serves as pastor of the Thafamasi Congregational Church (UCCSA).