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“Come, Holy Spirit, renew the face of the earth”
With great care, Sr Lidia and her team sort cardboard, plastic, and other materials, clean them, and take them for recycling.
As for food production, Sr Anna-Rose is busy in her vegetable garden. She has just started again after harvesting a good crop of green beans, spinach, and other vegetables.
The cycads are being transplanted, as they produce many new plants every year. They are growing splendidly.
Sago palms are ancient seed plants that date back to the time of the dinosaurs. In South Africa, they are strictly protected, and special permits are often required for legal ownership.
During Laudato Si’ Week, we hear the cry of the earth and the call of the poor with particular clarity. People suffering from hunger, landscapes littered with trash, and the increasing destruction of our creation make us realize how urgently our world needs healing, compassion, and responsible action.
Sister Lidia Maria Danyluk, OP, experiences this reality daily in Ekukhanyeni and at the nearby Napier Centre for Healing, a post-rehabilitation care facility for people recovering from addiction that offers a holistic approach to healing. It is located right next to the AIDS center, and some Dominican Sisters also work and provide support there.
Together with the staff, Sr Lidia consistently sets small but meaningful examples of hope. With great care, cardboard, plastic, and other materials are sorted, cleaned, and sent for recycling. In doing so, she serves as a role model and encourages others to use resources wisely.
When the driver picks up food on his way to Durban that is nearing its expiration date but is still perfectly edible, practical help is combined with environmental responsibility. Diesel is saved, the carbon footprint is reduced, and at the same time, patients and families receive good food. In this way, sharing becomes a living expression of charity.
While so many people are going hungry, good food is not thrown away but shared with others. In this way, the sisters are consciously taking a stand against the culture of waste and discarding. Sr Anna-Rose is active in the kitchen of the AIDS center, where she prepares nutritious meals and offers people practical support and advice.
In addition, she has started her own vegetable garden. There she grows fresh vegetables (beans, spinach, etc.) that enrich the community’s meals. This saves on grocery costs, which can then be put to good use where they are most urgently needed.
It is the small gestures of mindfulness—in sharing food, in the conscious use of resources, and in the courage to take responsibility for one another and for creation.
Several years ago, the Dominican Sisters became involved in the “EcoBricks” project. In this initiative, empty plastic bottles filled with non-recyclable packaging material were turned into sturdy building blocks. In this way, trash was transformed into something durable—something that can provide shelter and a future.
It is the small gestures of mindfulness—in sharing food, in the conscious use of resources, and in the courage to take responsibility for one another and for creation.
Text Sr Lidia & Martina Schneider
Translation Martina Schneider
May 2026