Catholic youths in ‘Plant a tree’ campaign
Catholic youths in the Blantyre Archdiocese have embarked on a tree planting campaign aimed at replenishing forests which have been badly depleted over the past years in the country.
The youths from different deaneries of the church trading under the Young Christian Workers (YCW) banner planted over 1 000 trees on the foot of Mulanje Mountain in Phalombe on Saturday as part of their annual tree plantation event.
Vice President for YCW in Blantyre George Baluti said, aside preaching the word of God, youths in the church decided to take the responsibility of replenishing nature as they understand the consequences of increased environmental degradation.
“As it is written in the book of Genesis; man has a God-given responsibility of taking care of the environment, but over the past years the same man has been the most destructive creature on earth, causing damage to all that God gave him to take care of. So we as youths would like to change the situation by first restoring the order of nature to its old set up,” said Baluti.
He said they relied on fellow youths and the general congregation around the areas where they are planting trees to take care of them.
Last year, the youth planted 1 000 seedlings at Soche Hill and the survival rate is 80 percent, according to Baluti.
Diocesan Youth Chaplin in the Archdiocese of Blantyre Father Frank Mwinganyama said following a 2016 Religious Exhortation by Pope Francis XVI, the church deemed it worthy encouraging its youth to plant and take care of trees as a way of serving God.
“We are encouraging every youth in our church to plant at least three trees at home on top of the ones that we are planting every year together in various places of the country,” said Mwinganyama.
At least 100 youths from Blantyre, Limbe, Mulanje and Phalombe deaneries took part in this year’s tree planting event on Mulanje Mountain.
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