Catholic youth in Bulawayo launch environmental clean-up initiative

ROMAN Catholic Church youth from South-West (Soweto) Deanery in the Archdiocese of Bulawayo on Saturday took to the streets to pick litter as they embarked on a clean-up exercise around parts of Nkulumane suburb in an effort to contribute to environmental conservation.
Stewardship of the environment, is one of the social teachings of the Catholic Church where each person is expected to contribute to the good of creation and nature.
With climate change and global warming biting hard on the environment, proper waste management which involves cleaning the surroundings and sorting waste at the source is key not only to cleanliness of the environment, but also to attainment of Vision 2030 through the National Development Strategy 1.
About 100 church members drawn from the Catholic Youth Association and their advisors gathered at Nkulumane Complex where they conducted the clean-up exercise before a synodal walk to Nkulumane 12, picking litter along the way.
They carried banners with messages to raise awareness about environmental conservation and sustainability as well as to encourage young people to be pro-active.

This was part of their contribution to the National Clean-up initiative launched by President Mnangagwa in December 2018 where each citizen is called upon to clean their surroundings every first Friday of the month.
Soweto Deanery is one of the deaneries in the Archdiocese of Bulawayo and covers the mother church’s parishes in suburbs south and west of the city.
These include St Martin of Tours (Emganwini), St. John’s (Sekusile), Holy Spirit (Nkulumane 12), Holy Cross (Tshabalala), Holy Family (Nketa), Our Lady of Fatima (Pumula South), St Adolf (Magwegwe), St Martin de Pores (Mbundane) and St Bernard’s in Pumula.
In an interview, vice chair of the CYA Soweto Deanery Miss Gugulethu Moyo said the initiative was driven by the need for young people to contribute to the growth of their community through positive and responsible living, at a time when the society is facing serious challenges of drug and substance abuse.
“We cleaned around Nkulumane Complex as South West deanery youth. This years church theme is “synodality and core responsibility” so we then thought not only do we want to be a responsible youth in the church but also in the community. We are hoping to make this an annual event for the deanery youth to do this exercise so we become responsible citizens and stay away from vices such as drug abuse,” she said.

Various organisations including ZB Financial Holdings and the Bulawayo City Council partnered with the CYA members on the exercise.
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace also provided personal protective equipment for the clean-up.
After the clean-up and synodal walk, the youth and their animators had a social afternoon at Holy Spirit Parish where they spent the day interacting with each other.
“We thank our Spiritual Directors and the Franciscan Sisters for the tremendous love and support on the day,” added Miss Moyo.
The decision to clean Nkulumane Complex and surrounding areas was necessitated by rampant littering by litter bugs who recklessly dump garbage thereby polluting the environment.

The CYA also has a resolution for the year 2024, to keep the environment clean and promote synodality.
-@ncubeleon