The Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) in the Archdiocese of Blantyre on Friday cleaned up Ndirande Township in Blantyre as part of Earth Action Initiative on Environment.
The exercise in Ndirande Township follows a call to action in the face of the plastic and toxic waste crisis the environment has witnessed.
Speaking after the cleaning exercise in Ndirande, Chairlady of CWO in the Archdiocese of Blantyre Lucy Vokhiwa said the initiative was a direct response to the Holy Bible on Genesis 2 about man’s responsibility over nature.
“After God had created everything He told man to be responsible over nature, But instead of us caring for the environment, we are the ones destroying it,” said Vokhiwa.
She further urged women in Malawi to join efforts in beating plastic pollution through shunning the use of thin plastics that are not friendly to the environment.
“Women do use plastics each day and my plea is that they should be using plastics that are recommended for use, at the same time re-using some of them as a way of helping in a fight against plastic pollution,” she said.
Ndirande Market Chairperson, Chancy Widoni, applauded CWO in the Archdiocese of Blantyre for cleaning the market saying they have helped business operators to have a clean environment.
“There are a lot of people who are in business at this market, and sometimes we fail to clean the whole market, that makes us not to have a clean market, but with them coming they have really helped us” said Widoni.
Through Laudato Si, 93, the Catholic Leader in the World Pope Francis disclosed interest to preserve nature by among other things taking good care of the environment.
Pope Francis expressed worry on the current state of environmental degradation and called on all stakeholders to take action on preserving nature.
This prompted Catholic women in the World under World Union of Catholic Women Organisation (WUCWO) to avert the crisis on environment by organising plastic and waste clean-up events at nearest ocean beach, lakefront, riverbanks, roadways, ditches and public spaces across the globe.
WUCWO also urged CWO women to organize sensitisation campaigns about plastic waste crisis and advocate for better landfill practices particularly in areas subjected to environmental conditions that could result in waste entering a water system.
