DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE Total Volunteers = 15 Households Covered in Door to Door Awareness = 80 Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. - Francis of Assisi Changing oneself is difficult. Changing someone else is arduous. Changing the masses is nearly impossible. And this is what we are trying to do at Chuna Bhatti slum cluster in Kirti Nagar. We are attempting to restore a park from its current abused state as a garbage dumping yard to a garden full of fruit trees and medicinal herbs and shrubs. However, we need locals to shun their habit of littering or garbage dumping in the park. As a first step of this colossal ambition our volunteers began by spreading awareness among the locals. Our initial conversation was with a few people in the park. We were fortunate that these people showed immense interest in our mission. Some were quite positive that such change with everyone’s support is possib...

ACT FOR AMAZONIA! Total Volunteers = 30 Saplings Planted = 100 Garbage Collected = 5 KG (approx.) Without action, the best intentions in the world are nothing more than that: intentions. - Jordan Belfort Amazon rainforest has witnessed over 75,000 fires so far in 2019! The most recent one has garnered the most attention globally as the smoke engulfed a couple of cities like a blanket. It was visible in space. The forest contributes to over 20% of the global oxygen supply. So, the situation is extremely worrisome. A lot of people are showing support in various ways. We at We Mean To Clean (WMTC) believe in action. Our plantation drive today at Sainik Vihar was dedicated to Amazonia as our humble attempt. WMTC’s regular efforts towards our environment have been recognized by the United States Forest Services – International Programs (USFS – IP). Their delegate, Mr. Ashraful Haque, visited our Sainik Vihar site to share his organization’s vision of ...

HEY IT’S NOT CHILDREN’S DAY, BUT IT IS! Total Volunteers = 25 Garbage Collected = 300 KG Bottle Caps Collected = 121 “The most beautiful thing in the world is a child’s smile. The next best thing? Knowing that you are the reason behind it.” That’s exactly how we all felt when we conducted our cleanliness drive with the kids of Chuna Bhatti slum cluster in Kirti Nagar. Yes, in our newest endeavour we are looking to transform yet another park in this area from a dumping yard to a lush green park. And we had tremendous support from the kids of this place. All so ecstatic and exuberant. We began by briefing the kids and the locals about our aspirations. Thankfully, our ideas elicited a positive response and the much-desired support. As a first step to the entire revamp exercise, we had to clear garbage from this park. Everybody geared up and got going with the job in no time. Sweeping, garbage collection, we did everything to make the place clean. We...

PLANT A TREE, PLANT A LIFE! Total Volunteers = 16 Saplings Planted = 23 (amaltas, pilkhan) Bottle Caps Collected = 287 Continuing our weekly efforts in the monsoon season of 2019, we returned to the Ajmal Khan park on 10th of August. With a clear objective of planting native trees none needed any briefing on what to do. We had our own volunteers as well as some of the local residents. It was a pleasant morning that helped everyone’s high spirits. The soil was quite hard on the patch we targeted for our plantation. Thanks to the absence of rains and also the minor amounts of construction and demolition waste buried beneath. And we had to dig pits here! Well, it allowed some of the team members to display their muscular prowess. The seemingly difficult task of digging pits looked smooth with spades in the hands of a daedal bunch of people. Once we had a few pits dug, we started planting our beloved saplings. Oh! The joy of removing them from ...

FRIENDSHIP DAY PLANTATION! Total Volunteers = 25 Garbage Collected = 5 KG Saplings Planted = 20 (amaltas, pilkhan) A friend in need is a friend indeed. We are all familiar with this old adage. What do we humans need for our survival at the most fundamental level? Oxygen and water. And we all know that trees give us both. How about food? Trees take care of that on a lot of counts too! We know they fulfil our most basic needs. We can conclude that they are our real friends. We do not have an existence without them. Thus, to celebrate the day in its most fundamental sense, We Mean To Clean (WMTC) volunteers gathered at the famed Ajmal Khan park in Karol Bagh on Sunday morning. We also had the presence of local residents to support us with immense ardor. We began by thanking them for their support and briefing them upon the benefits of native trees. Eventually, we got going with our task of the day. Thankfully, we already had a few pits dug up to exp...

WHAT’S BETTER THAN A WMTC DRIVE? A WMTC DRIVE WITH CHILDREN! Let us go through some vital statistics first: Total Volunteers = 60 children + 10 adults = 70 Garbage Collected = 12 KG trash + 6 KG bottle caps = 18 KG Total Bottle Caps = Approx 1,200 Now, let’s dive in! A humid Saturday morning greeted We Mean To Clean (WMTC) volunteers at the DDA park in Dasghara, near Inderpuri. Everything was usual. Our volunteers unloading all the materials – saplings, tools, gloves, garbage bags etc. – and carrying them to suitable spots. Few of us who were new to the place strolled around the park to get a feel of our new place. Yes, it was filthy, littered with garbage all around. But it also offered a lot of scope for plantation. We chose to plant chilbil and amaltas here. Both are native trees with extreme levels of endurance. But before that we had to ensure our saplings get a clean home. We commenced the operations as a standard operating procedure....