Sr Tia fcJ, from the Ende community, in Flores island, Indonesia, writes about how this year’s Earth Day celebrations.
This year, I celebrated Earth Day with various communities in Ende. This event also commemorates the anniversary of the Kampus Tanpa Dinding (Campus Without Walls community). We worked together to do volunteering activities with children and young Catholics. The event theme was Tanpa Sekat Berkarya Untuk Bumi (Without barriers to work for the Earth).
Our event was focused on young Catholics, started at 9.00am and finished around 4.00pm. It was separated into three locations (two schools and the beach) and I was coordinator of the beach area. The activities were “looking for traces”. The young people (around 15) walked in small groups through forest and beach looking for the signs. During their journey, they also found five posts. At every post, the group answered several questions related to environmental problems in their villages. After that, they presented their answers to the big group. They explained environmental problems very clearly and sharply. The audience gave some suggestions about their presentations.
On the beach, I gave a moment of reflection to the big group. By listening to the sound of waves, we contemplated how nature has already given us everything that we need. Also, I asked them to share what they were grateful for today. The answers mesmerized me, because they connected their experience to God’s presence.
