Bvumbwe Parish's Holy Childhood Programme: Nurturing Faith and Nature through Tree Planting

Father Damian Abraham, a Catholic priest at Bvumbwe Parish in Blantyre, Malawi, and a dedicated member of SAFCEI's Faith Leader Environmental Advocacy Training (FLEAT) Malawi group, passionately highlighted the remarkable initiatives undertaken by his parish.

“The Priests of Bvumbwe Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Blantyre, Malawi lead children into planting trees, through their Holy Childhood Programme.

Bvumbwe Parish is training children to plant trees and take care of their environment. They are implementing the project of planting trees in the Parish so that children will grow up with a love for nature. Amplifying the call of our Pope Francis in his encyclical of May 2015, Laudato Si by putting it in the lives of those that define the future church, the children. “We believe that if we implement together with children the concept of planting and nurturing trees, they will remain focused on praising the Lord God through their acts of caring nature.

We want children to realise that God reveals himself through nature and also taking care of our environment is one way of praising God.

The exercise took place on 2 July 2023 where two hundred children from seven churches of Bvumbwe Parish participated in the exercise. We planted over 2000 trees around Bvumbwe Parish. We engaged Holy childhood animators to guide the children by facilitating the activity. Our plan is to continue planting more trees and teaching  children the importance of taking care of our environment, our beautiful mother earth.”

By Fr Damian Abraham, Bvumbwe Parish, Blantyre, Malawi.