On Sunday, September 22, 2024, Mission 21 was a guest at the Titus Church on the Bruderholz in Basel. The opening service for the 2024 campaign "Learning from each other, living sustainably" was celebrated together. The focus was on the topics of food sovereignty in Latin America and climate change globally.
Pastor Harald Matern gave an impressive sermon in which he shed light on the question of what mission means today. He spoke about the lack of food in the Global South, which affects millions of people, and contrasted this with the surplus of food in our latitudes. He addressed both the struggle for survival in the Global South and the challenges posed by abundance and overconsumption in northern countries.
Barbara Heer, Head of Women and Gender at Mission 21, shared impressions from her trip to Peru and gave a first-hand account of the challenges and project successes in the region around Lake Titicaca in the high Andes. In addition, the confirmands from the parish presented their findings and questions that they had brought with them from their project lessons. They had dealt intensively with the topics of nutrition and climate, both in Switzerland and Europe as well as in Latin America.
Organist Susanne Böke and the music duo Rebecca Hagmann provided the music for the service (cello) and Priska Stampfli (accordion), who solemnly accompanied the service with melodies from Latin America and Africa and created a special atmosphere.
Photo exhibition on the campaign
After the service, visitors had the opportunity to view the current photo exhibition on the campaign "The Soul of the Andes - Between Tradition and Change". The exhibition shows impressive images that document the diversity and change caused by climate change in the Andean regions of Latin America. It offers a deep insight into the realities of life for the local people and illustrates the challenges in the area of conflict between tradition and modernity.
The service offered an inspiring mixture of spiritual reflection, social commitment and musical enjoyment. The discussion of global injustices in the areas of food and climate stimulated reflection and exchange.
From now on, parishes have the opportunity to rent this photo exhibition and raise awareness among their parishioners about climate justice and food sovereignty in Latin America.
