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ARE WE READY FOR A CLIMATE CHANGE?
Global warming, El Niño, carbon dioxide emissions, rising sea temperatures and levels, a melting Arctic ice shelf, extreme weather patterns and rainfall – we hear about climate change all the time these days and it is a topic high on people’s agendas worldwide.
Here in Burundi it is hard to escape noticing the strange weather patterns that have brought increased suffering to people’s lives, especially the most vulnerable such as orphans, widows, and those already suffering from HIV and AIDS. The regularity of the seasons upon which a population of over 7 million people is dependent is disrupted and currently causing a crisis nationwide.
After a period of poor rains during September last year when maize and beans are normally planted, the rains arrived but have been prolonged and extremely heavy with severe thunder storms. They have caused much damage throughout the country. Houses and other buildings, such as schools and churches, have been destroyed. Thousands of people have been left homeless or displaced. People have died and school children been unable to go to school because of hunger. Bridges and parts of roads have been damaged disrupting travel and communication. Crops have been washed away or destroyed by flooding causing a chronic food shortage.
 
The situation has been worsened by soil erosion, high density of population in some places, and basic crops such as cassava, maize and bananas affected by a mosaic virus and bacterial infections.
Incidents of diseases such as cholera and malaria along with severe cases of malnutrition and other related diseases have increasingly stretched hospitals and medical resources to their limits.
At the beginning of February it was estimated that 800,000 people needed food assistance for the next six months. 80% of food production had been damaged by the rains and floods. In some places it was said that food stocks had run out completely and the local population were depending on food being brought in from Rwanda and Tanzania or distributed by the World Food Programme.
Such events are occurring with increasing frequency across out planet and are a sobering reminder of how fragile life is and how dependent we are on God.
As we reflect on these events in the light of Easter we remember that God wants to transform our natures, to change our patterns of behaviour, and give us new ways of thinking and acting. He wants to bring about a climate change in our lives through His finished work on the Cross so that we become more loving, more compassionate, and more self-giving. I wonder if we are ready to be changed like that
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