Pastoral Care to People Working in Mining in South Africa from the Perspective of African Women’s Ecotheologies
Résumé
The challenges of pastorally caring for people working in mining in South Africa are addressed by considering scenarios typical to a mining environment. Since mining is considered to be potentially detrimental to the environment, the insights of African women’s ecotheologies are called in to assist in the pastoral process, especially that of Sinenhlanhla Chisale’s ‘African ecofeminist pastoral care praxes. Seven scenarios from the author’s experience as pastor in mining contexts are described to contextualise this particular pastoral praxis. These scenarios are (1) unemployed African youth demanding the opening of mines where the environment, protected by whites for tourism, will be destroyed; (2) an informal settlement of job-seeking miners asking for protection against public abuse; (3) youth in the congregation suffering from poverty and hunger, rendering them unable to pass the medical tests of the mines; (4) parents with broken hearts seeking pastoral support when their children lose their jobs on the mine because of substance abuse; (5) the pastor fruitlessly seeking the opportunity to research the role of religion in supporting people on the mines; (6) the pastor interviewing congregants to establish relevant preaching in order to pastorally encourage the congregation; and (7) the pastor engaging in pastoral care with congregants traumatised after a mine accident. A conclusion points to the insights gained for pastorally caring to people working in mining from African women eco-theologies, namely guiding their minds towards a God who cares for all creation; co-authoring with them towards the interdependence of wo/man and mines; addressing the poverty that disturbs the interdependence between wo/man and mines; and empowering wo/man to put human needs in harmony with environmental rights.
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