More than 30 humanitarian projects are currently underway around the Africa South Area as part of the Light the World initiative.
Church members worked with their communities to identify projects that would be meaningful and relevant, reported the Church’s Africa Newsroom. Those efforts range broadly in their scope and aims, including:
Zimbabwe: assisting a home for the elderly, ending in a Christmas carols event.
Esatini: hosting a Christmas lunch for a Catholic school for the disabled.
Zambia: painting and cleaning washroom facilities for the Kitwe Teaching Hospital.
Mauritius: painting and renovating the SOS Children’s Village.
Namibia: assisting a soup kitchen and charity children’s garden.
George, South Africa: uplifting a local park, culminating in a community picnic.
Springs, South Africa: placing “giving boxes” in large malls to support four local nonprofit organizations.
The season of service began with two Light the World carols festivals in the Johannesburg, South Africa, area over the first weekend of December. Around 700 people attended — including members of the Church and their friends. They enjoyed musical performances and sang Christmas carols in Soweto (west of Johannesburg) and Bedfordview (east of Johannesburg) on Dec. 3 and 4.
Mpumi Alla, narrator for the Light the World Carols Festival, addresses the audience in Soweto, South Africa, Dec. 4, 2022.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
With the theme, “Come serve as He served,” the events marked an invitation to community members to feel the joy of Christ’s light through service. At both locations, two donation boxes were overflowing with supplies people brought to create hygiene kits for women’s shelters in the greater Johannesburg region.
As people left, they were given a roll of red wrapping paper printed with the words, “Light the World.” Elder Glenn M. Holmes, an Area Seventy in the Africa South Area, explained what that was.
“Use this wrapping paper to ‘Light the World’ by wrapping a gift for someone in need,” he said, viewing the Christmas season as an opportunity to join hands with others in uplifting those in need.
Light the World signs and stars welcome visitors to a carols festival in Bedfordview, South Africa, Dec. 3, 2022.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Volunteers at the Church’s Africa South Area office in Johannesburg, South Africa, prepare red Light the World wrapping paper on Dec. 2, 2022.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
