"I love the earth !

I’m committed to safeguarding our common home !"

It is with this deep motivation that we, the sisters of the missionary reality of Cameroon, from the ecological team, try to make our contribution to the safeguarding of our earth. In the midst of this ecological crisis, we are faced with a sad fact : the extent of deforestation and the growing number of tons of waste…

To turn the tide on the harmful effects of human activity on the environment, we have undertaken small, day-to-day actions in our mission areas, in line with the objectives of Laudato Si’. For the moment, we are focusing on two objectives :

Cry of the earth : :

The response to the Cry of the Earth is a call to protect our common home for the well-being of all.

• Action Taken : We have opted for reforestation and the action of planting flowers to protect our common home.

The reforestation is the process of planting trees or seeds in a treeless area to create a forest or « green » space.

Re-greening our spaces, re-greening our environment, seems to us to be one way of combating global warming. The presence of vegetation in all its forms generates a certain balance, so we’re invited to see plants as partners in cohabitation.

We see the involvement of children in this reforestation activity as a long-term mobilization that will help instill in them a love and respect for nature and the preservation of the earth.

Several activities were carried out with pupils from Yangben Catholic School, including the creation of a flower garden, a community field and the planting of a few fruit trees.

Sustainable lifestyles

• Action Taken : waste reduction or recycling.

At Gadalao school in Mokong, primary school pupils are gradually learning the importance of keeping the environment clean. They make a point of cleaning up after school.

And on the subject of recycling, a workshop was held at Collège Bary in Batouri with students in the first-year science class on how to make cobblestones from bottles and sand. This activity is still ad experimentum. Nevertheless, we intend to pursue it so that it can be used by a large number of people.

• Action Taken : heating bath water with sunlight.

At the Saint Jérôme Novitiate community in Ngaoundéré, the sisters have opted to heat their bathing water using solar energy. This practice, however ordinary, is a way of saving gas and reducing the use of firewood.

With these few activities underway, we are committed to continuing this awareness-raising through afforestation and recycling sessions, and by promoting the use of renewable energy so that the surrounding local populations can in turn adopt these actions, so that together we can reverse the destructive effects of climate change and the warming of our common home.

« Together, we unite to save our common home ! »

May this Lenten season help us to undergo a spiritual and environmental conversion.

(crédit photos : sœurs du Cameroun, pixabay)