World Environment Day was exactly a month ago, on June 5th. As I announced to you, we launched a Yoff beach clean up project to celebrate the day. I’m sure you want to know all about it!
Everything was well organized: SaDunya made t-shirts just for the occasion, and paid for the t-shirt printing, some of the materials, and water for the participants; Malick Diene, from graphic studio Tagoor, coordinated and organized the day’s events, and took photos and videos of them; and Calebasse Association members cleaned up, raised public awareness, and provided shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows.
And Yoff residents on the beach at the time were invited to participate too. Even the sheep were there!
There were about sixty people of all ages, and everybody went to work with a smile. People wore the t-shirts proudly; some put theirs on inside out to keep them clean and others put them on their heads to keep the sun off. I participated with my friends too. We filled the wheelbarrows with our shovels, then the adults emptied them into the garbage truck lent by the Spatial Use and Local Community Ministry. The truck filled up fast, se we put the rest of the trash aside to be picked up the next day by area technicians. It was a big, bright-colored stack that was almost pretty. It took us 6 hours to pick everything up.
The local press was even invited to watch the event and the Al Madina FM radio station interviewed us!
It was great to see the sand beach reappear once we got it all cleaned up! And it smelled better, too!
The strongest men even took away the old dugout canoes that had become giant trash bins. Everyone was motivated and glad they participated. Mom talked a lot with people from Yoff to get their advice on the filth. I hope the beach will stay clean now…
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SaDunya Project