Each creation has its own purpose. None is superfluous.
Pope Francis, encyclical Laudato Si p. 64
Summer is a time of rest, entertainment, recovery and in particular children’s camps in church parishes. However, in the meantime, nature does not rest. All living organisms don`t reduce activity, each of them plays an important role in the natural environment. Usually, we notice the large animals and plants around us and can roughly imagine their lives. But there are also the small organisms that often escape our attention and come into view either accidentally or annoying people in some way. First of all, we mean insects. The insects are the most numerous and diverse class in the entire animal kingdom. As of August 2013, 1,070,781 species of insects were known, including 17,203 fossil species. However, scientists estimate that the total number of existing insect species is approximately 2 million. Nature does not rest, but neither do our activists, the wives of priests.
After all, they often have an important task – to take care of the organization of children’s camps in parishes, to continue catechetical, cultural, and educational activities, and in the case of Natalia Stetso and other activists who work with the Ecological Commission of the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy, to engage in environmental education. This time, on the first day of the eco-camp, more than 30 children from the parish of the Ascension of the Lord gathered to rest and work productively. We talked about the above insects and their role in nature because they are also pollinators (the vast majority of flowering plants are pollinated by insects); soil formers (for example, the remains of dead animals and their waste destroy the larvae of flies); vectors of pathogens (for example, the fleas can carry the plague, the mosquitoes – different types of fever, the malaria mosquitoes are the vectors of malaria); and they also can be pests to humans, or useful domestic insects (for example, bees, which are used to produce honey).
In the grass on the campgrounds, children watched bees, ants, ladybugs, butterflies, and many other insects. And then they depicted them in pictures, do the crossword, and “parodied” the insect habits, that is, in the game form, they learned about the world of these animals. And at the end of the day, the children created beautiful paintings from leaves, grass, and flowers, using cardboard boxes of pizza as a frame (thus giving a “second life” to waste).
The event was held within the framework of the project “Responsibility for Creation and Women of the Carpathians”, which is implemented by the Interreligious and environmental civil forum of Eastern Europe (IRCEF) (headed by Alexander Bokotey) under the project “Responsibility for Creation and Women of the Carpathians” in cooperation with the Archdiocese of Bamberg (Erzbistum Bamberg), the Diocese of Würzburg (Bistum Würzburg) and Renovabis (Organization for Assistance to Eastern Europe from the Catholic Church in Germany).
Informational Sevice of IRCEF