How does goodness grow?

How does goodness grow? By the end of this year, more than 7000 young people in more than 50 Lutheran schools across the country will be able to tell you.

These young people are part of Australian Lutheran World Service’s (ALWS) Awareness Days, which this year have the theme, ‘Goodness grows – our planet, our people, our purpose’. This theme was inspired by the fact so many people from the communities our Lutheran family serves through ALWS are worried about how the changing climate is hurting their families.

‘Sometimes the rain is abundant, but other times we experience a heartbreaking drying up.’

The ALWS community education team uses film clips, PowerPoint visuals and a variety of interactive activities to engage students in discussions, explore how our planet is coping with our increased consumption of resources, and to look at what we can do as responsible stewards of this amazing world our God has created.

Students hear from people such as Cambodian farmer Siem Rok through a video clip, who is scared his grandchildren will go hungry because his crops are dying. They also hear from Gervais from the East African nation of Burundi, who says via a PowerPoint presentation: ‘Sometimes the rain is abundant, but other times we experience a heartbreaking drying up’. The sad fact is the changing climate hurts the poor first and the most.

At the end of their Awareness Day, students receive an action kit so they can ‘bring love to life’ and ‘grow goodness’ by helping provide water filters, improved seed varieties and agricultural training to farmers and families in some of the world’s hardest-hit communities.

Awareness Days are a popular and powerful way for students from Lutheran schools across Australia to connect with people in countries like Cambodia and Burundi.

That is how you make goodness grow!

Julie Krause is a community action officer with Australian Lutheran World Service.

What one student says about ALWS Awareness Days:

‘Thank you very much for coming to our school and teaching us about what things can threaten people that are poor and don’t have much, and what ALWS and other people can do to help. I really enjoyed the activities you gave us to do … you gave us an insight into what their lives are like and how different it is to us … I will want to try and help so that their lives are better.’

To find out how you can help goodness grow around the world, visit the ALWS website or call 1300 763 407.