Arbor Day

By Katie

Schools around Honduras celebrated Arbor Day last Monday by having school assemblies in which they shared poems, songs and plays about trees and why we should protect our forests. Luz y Verdad took it one step further this year by collaborating with the Agriculture and Environment Program at Diaconia Nacional to plant forty trees in some unused space we have on the playground.

The fourth, fifth and sixth graders planted trees with the help of some of us teachers and the technical help of Matt and David from Diaconia. It was AMAZING how hard some of these kids worked. In the photo below, you can see Ruben shoveling his little heart out! I was proud of the way the kids took the work very seriously.
After we dug forty holes for the trees and hauled compost to fill them with, David gave us a lesson in how to plant the trees. We planted mahogany and cedar trees, with the idea that in 20-30 years the school could harvest a few of them as a fundraiser. The kids liked that idea quite a bit. Matt also led a devotional time about how we all are charged with caring for the environment and how this is an act of worship.

Each student "adopted" their own tree, marking it with their name and promising to care for it. When the dry season comes Matt and David are going to return to teach us about a simple irrigation system using a 3-liter pop bottle so the little trees can make it through the dry times and on to maturity. In the picture below you can see Scarlet helping Dariana to plant her tree.
A lot of good came out of this day! We're really hoping that all the little trees survive to help encourage the kids that planting trees and working together produces positive results. May God bless these little acts of worship!