Manzini Parish plants trees : Diocese of Swaziland

The 2^nd of March 2016 was a historic day in Manzini Parish, Mathanda when members of the church decided to have a short service under the marula tree which is one of the trees that have a cultural significance in the Swazi Culture. We gathered to share a bit about the effects of climate change before starting with tree planting around the church. Season of Creation 2 was used to get prayers and readings where Rev. W. Dlamini lead us into a brief Bible study and I made a brief Scientific aspect of how Climate Change is connected to deforestation and Green House gas Emissions and how tree planting benefits the eco-system balance.

Readings for the discussion were:

Isaiah 24:1-6

Psalms 98:1-9

Matthew 8:23-27

After the discussions, we focused on the gospel of Mathew where we see Jesus calming the storm and that shows that Jesus is above every nature thus we need to go back to Christ if we are to fight and win climate change as he is the solution and can teach us how to be stewards of the earth.

After the short service we moved forward into put faith into action, we planted 31 trees which will serve as wind breakers for the church along its fence and right around. Each person had their own tree to plant and was a wonderful experience, we also planted five indigenous plant species that are now at risk of extinction due to deforestation, and we have saved for future generation.  We spared one fruit tree for Good Friday service which will be planted that day.

The main purpose of the day was to plant trees, however the service would not be complete if we left litter laying around the church compounds, and it was due for us to have a mini clean up exercise to leave the church clean and green.

Did you know cutting down on meat can save the environment? It is not easy for most of us but cutting down on beef can go a long way in saving our deteriorating environment. We shared very nice chicken stew and some green vegetable, it was a wonderful fellowship.

We are so grateful to the government of Swaziland for providing us with these trees from the Environmental Desk, we committed ourselves in taking care of them when we made our last prayer blessing the work of our hands, so help us Lord.

Mncedisi Masuku,
Diocese of Swaziland