By David Wright, MEng(Hons) CEng, MIStructE, MICE,
Africa Regional Director, EMI Global,
On behalf of EMI’s Creation Care Working Group
I felt we were starting to become desensitized to reality.
We needed to enjoy an early evening stroll to watch the sunset at the ocean. It required tiptoeing around used nappies, plastic bottles, and other unsightly items of rubbish.
Our family lived in five countries in Southern, East, and West Africa for over 18 years.
I know the contrast between beauty and degradation is stark.
Pictures from Author, Kruger National Park South Africa.
Visiting national parks in Southern and East Africa, we could appreciate and marvel at the intricate balance of ecosystems.
Every creature and plant plays its part—from the smallest insect to the largest tree—in a delicately-balanced masterpiece of interdependence that speaks to me of divine design.
Equally jaw-dropping is the death and destruction caused by extreme storms leading to flooding and devastation in areas of informal housing.
Countries in the Global South tend to suffer the worst consequences from the increased frequency and intensity of storms because of rapid growth of informal settlements, poor land use, and inadequate or out-grown infrastructure.
In the face of so many challenges and brokenness, cynicism can easily make its way into our everyday vocabulary. Maybe you ask some of the same questions I did:
‘Where could I even start to make a difference?’ and ‘Is there even any point in trying?’
In those 18 years, I also met people who were bringing hope to communities they were serving.
Hospitals bringing healing, Christian schools offering excellent academics, churches caring for orphaned children.
And, as a Structural Engineer, I found my own part to play through EMI.
‘People restored by God and the world restored through design’ is a vision of amazing hope.
Restoration isn’t something we have to wait for in eternity. Yes, on that Day everything will be perfectly restored. But we serve a God who is actively at work through us here and now to restore people and this earth—He loves both.
Through Jesus, we ourselves become signposts of that future, final restoration. And we can create signposts of that future, final restoration in our built environment.
As designers, construction managers, and technically-minded people, we have an extra measure of responsibility to steward this planet.
We want to care for creation in the design and construction of facilities we create. At EMI, these are projects for ministry partners who often live and serve in the Global South.
How can we go beyond minimizing negative impacts and create a built environment that leaves a positive footprint—environmentally, socially, and financially? What does that look like in East Africa or Latin America or Southeast Asia?
Over the past year a Creation Care working group has been grappling with some of these questions.
We collaborated on a sustainable design framework for the Global South, we heard a case study about the impact of a solar electrical system, landscape architects shared about reinviting beauty and biodiversity into a project.
We made a start on promoting and advancing a culture of creation care within EMI and we realized our staff really care about this. They want to do more, they want to take it farther.
And we think you do too.
So we’re opening this forum with a series of creation care webinars starting on Earth Day this April. We don’t have all the answers, but together we can share what has been tried and see how we can go farther.
Be part of the conversation and grapple with these challenges along with us.
Let’s not lose hope. There are signposts of restoration here and now.
We at EMI have a part to play and so do you.
