WhatsApp weekly update 1–6 June 2026

Hi everyone

In a week’s time, we will have started our 10th anniversary conference (so please don’t expect a weekly update next Saturday). Hopefully – and this is hope against hope – Bafana Bafana will not have embarrassed us too much at their opening game on Thursday against Mexico! At least 1 billion people across the globe will be watching this match. If they simply draw this match, some of us will be very happy!

Those of us who were at the launch of VYLTP in 2016, could not imagine a 10th anniversary celebration dawning, because back then the crises of youth disempowerment and exclusion were being ignored by most people, especially those in power. All we then knew was that we had to start with who and what we had. We also knew that this would not be easy work because there was and still is no significant ecumenical presence in South Africa: that ended years ago once apartheid was defeated.

But we thank God that we have come this far. How many lives have we been able to impact positively? We cannot really answer this question in any definitive way at the moment, but we do know that more than 100 young people from across the country have registered to be with us next week. That already says something. We can also tell stories of the transformations that have happened in the lives of many young people. We can also talk about the many people in the USA who came to us with tears in their eyes when we travelled there in the midWest in November 2024 and the work with the Taizé community. The Taizé gathering of about 3000 young people in Cape Town in 2019 is still a huge highlight for many of us…

But the crisis of South African youth has unfortunately deepened, and therefore the work must be intensified and also more effectively co-ordinated. We cannot continue working in silos (you in your small corner and I in mine?). No-one will do the work unless we do it. Hope – which is our currency – must become embedded and real. This we plan to reflect on and continue next weekend and beyond.

We want to again start with a big thank you to all those who support us, financially and otherwise. This week, the De Gruchy legacy fund and the de Gruchy family gave us great support! John de Gruchy, as co-founder of VYLTP, will speak on the morning of 16 June to share his reflections and his hopes. Thank you also to the many many others, especially Rob Selier, who have come forward to support us.

Another big thank you and shout-out to the wonderful people of St Peter’s Hermanus who has embraced us fully. We appreciate you! We also look forward to visiting some of the other local churches on 14 June.

Surprise of the past week? The Gift of the Givers came to deliver the 1000 bottles of water for the conference at my house at 11pm! What an admirable team of people, who unselfishly serve our nation daily.

As part of our Peace, Justice and Reconciliation work, I was privileged and inspired to address the anti-Genocide webinar on Wednesday evening together with Rev’s Munther Isaac, Rudi Swanepoel and Mae Cannon. WATCH:

Thank you to those who attended. This was the launch of a 3 part series and one of the other VYLTP leaders (Reverend Rene August) together with Rev Frank Chikane will address the next one on 15 June.

Two unfortunate challenges are showing up again at this time: the first one is the opportunistic xenophobia/Afrophobia actions being perpetrated by some misguided ones who are misdirecting their very legitimate grievances. We will drum against xenophobia/Afrophobia next weekend; the second challenge is that there is a flu going around (some call it Covid19). We sincerely ask that if you plan to attend the conference but have a cold or flu or severe cough, for the sake of the other delegates we respectfully request that you rather not attend. Please take care of your health. We will however miss you and pray for you.

We plan to go live on our Facebook page for some of the sessions. Please tune into our Facebook page at 7pm SAST (1pm ET) on 12 June for our first session. Check out the hashtag #VYLTP10. If you have a drum at home, feel free to make a joyful noise at home!

Lastly (for now): we continue to build many meaningful partnerships. One that is in the making is with a youth programme that was part of the work of our current USA ambassador, Roelf Meyer (called youthzones). Please see https://africanngos.org/2018/07/12/youthzones-youth-development-with-a-difference/

They too have a national footprint and we plan to continue conversations with Schalk van Heerden from “Betereinders” who brought this work to my attention. Together we can do so much more!

#VYLTP10

Edwin Arrison