Young Latin Americans Demonstrate their Commitment to the Planet

  To celebrate the International Day of Mother Earth, a group of young people from the Chapel of Christ the Conqueror, in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho in Lima, kept a Vigil to raise awareness about  care of the planet.

On Sunday April 21, when the clock in front of the Chapel marked 6.30 p.m., the Vigil began.

For the first activity, the participants constructed boxes of newspaper; then they used soil and a candle to form the shape of the planet. The key educational moment occurred when videos on how to preserve the resources of the planet were run. These caught the attention of the participants. When the videos were finished, the group gathered to begin the ritual of the lighting of the candles. This was accompanied by a prayer to Mother Earth and the song “A Better World”.

This was the first activity on behalf of the environment made in this Chapel. It is what the young people of this sector asked for in 2013, and they welcomed and participated in it. The activity was organized by the Christian Brothers of the Community of Santa Elizabeth (Brothers Tony, Alberto, Jose and Jorge) in coordination with representatives of the Catechetics programs

High Coast (Alto Litoral) is a district on the edge of Cochabamba. On April 22 and May 25, children of this district took part in educational activities on the Earth, our life on Earth and our relations with living beings.

What do you want your planet to be? And how do you want this on the Earth? These two questions were the basis of all the activities. The answers were: peace, trees, water, education, health, food, happiness, animals, family.

Every day is an important day. Every day we have a new opportunity. As the dawn warms us up, and its heat grows as it passes through the day, making life possible, so we can make a worthwhile life on our planet possible, a worthy life for all.

All the voices are necessary. We are all are equal in dignity and hope. The world is not a private world but it belongs to all of us, with the colours of all. We did this today for freedom, today we did this for life, for justice, for the rights to express ourselves and to be together.

Thanks to Renato Llerena for the information in this article