The year 2024 is promising. We’ve already hit the ground running with several activities, including the first in-person meeting with our Omega Resilience Awards, Africa. It was a moment to have a holistic feel of how the fellows were navigating the poly-crisis ravaging our world through their various projects.
As is customary with HOMEF, we had our team-building event for the year, where the theme of the year, Culture of Life, was unveiled to the HOMEF team and partners. This theme emphasizes living in harmony with every being. To advance the Culture of Life is to intentionally plan and carry out all activities of life in ways that promote the sanctity of lives in every realm. Achieving this goal requires a conscious way of being and doing that negates the culture of death and extractivism. The team-building was a moment of bonding and re-immersion into the values and ethos that HOMEF promotes, which all neatly align with the notion of Culture of Life.
Extractivism negates the Culture of Life as it is deeply linked to ecological damage and human rights abuses. These perpetrators of extractivism and capitalism continue to deceive the world with false solutions to the age-long damage they have meted out to the environment and communities. Technosavages need to be called out to hands off the Earth and allow people to follow the path to well-being with a consciousness of the interconnectedness of all beings.
Among other wide-ranging topics, this issue of eco-Instigator highlights how the Makoko people in Yaba LGA of Lagos, Nigeria embody the Culture of Survival. They stand for justice and have never allowed the system to overwhelm them. They are an example of how communities adapt to climate change and how a community can be resilient and stand strong.
In an increasingly violent and despondent world, the need to inspire hope and defiance has become more urgent. Our reports and stories are aimed at instigating action, firing our imaginations and forging pathways of hope. So, do not apologize when you clench your fist to break chains that seek to stop you from living in dignity and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, irrespective of their colour or where they come from. With love, we can overcome avarice, greed, and other forms of destructive relationships. Open the doors with love and light the fires of hope.
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Until Victory!
Download and read the full issue here.
