On Sunday, 18 August, Golden Harvest Park in Randburg saw more than 50 ASEZ WAO volunteers gather to remove invasive plants and trees. The initiative was held in partnership with Joburg City Parks and the City of Johannesburg Ward 101 Councillor Ralf Bittkau.
ASEZ WAO is an international young adult worker volunteer group from the World Mission Society Church of God that practices love and volunteer service in their workplaces and communities.
Furthermore, the members actively participate in pertinent global issues with a sense of ownership. The ASEZ WAO activists carry out all their activities all over the world with the love of a mother, which is untiring and unconditional, in over 175 countries worldwide, according to the organisation.
ASEZ stands for 'Save the Earth from A to Z', which means, 'Save the world from the beginning to the end'. WAO stands for 'We Are One Family'. Put together, ASEZ WAO means, 'Let us save the earth from the beginning to the end as one family'.
Welcomed by City of Johannesburg Ward 101 councillor Ralf Bittkau, the activists were once again excited to continue removing the invasive trees and plants at the park, as they had previously done in July, the organisation says.
The councillor had thanked the members for taking time out of their Sunday morning to help restore Golden Harvest Park.
"Thank you so much for coming here once again to carry out such unbelievable work for the community. Through your great effort, we'll redeem this park," the councillor had said.
According to the organisation, it was all smiles from the beginning to the end of the removal activity, with ASEZ WAO members having gathered from Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Vaal to remove hundreds of invasive trees and plants from the 110 hectare park in Randburg.
The removal of invasive plants from parks and nature reserves forms part of the Green Earth Movement, which seeks to create healthy terrestrial ecosystems while educating communities on the importance of protecting terrestrial ecosystems. This is actively carried out by partnering with city officials and cleaning up streets, parks and mountains.
The ASEZ WAO activists conclude that they plan to contribute to making improvements for mankind and the earth by taking care of neighbors and communities with young adults’ passion and positive energy while participating in environmental protection activities.
For more information, visit www.asezwao.org.
*Image courtesy of contributor