Cleanliness Drive and Native Tree Plantation at Dasghara

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. Gloves? Check. Garbage bags? Check. Garbage picking sticks? Check. A few volunteers were taking help from labourers for digging pits while some of us were picking up the trash. We were sweating and the humidity was testing our energy levels.

Energy. Power. What would you think of when you encounter these words? A Ferrari? A Hayabusa? Virat Kohli? Glucon D? Fast and Furious? Hulk? We can think of anything from various spectrums in which we exist. But we got our own adrenaline shot when we saw an army of Sai Public School children marching inside the park. So well aligned in a queue. These children belonged to fourth and fifth standard and their energy levels? High octane!

We began by providing an explanation to them for their attendance on an off day. We shared our motto of cleanliness and a healthy environment, the evils of littering and the significance of native trees. This lot was a quick learner, mind you! We asked if they knew about the bottle cap challenge. To our surprise they did. We then shared our own version of the challenge with them and asked if they would be interested in helping us collect stray bottle caps littered around in the park. It was a loud affirmation in unison!

These kids belonged to classes IV A, IV B and V in their school. So, the teams were divided accordingly. Each class was given a WMTC leader as a support and the target was to collect maximum number of bottle caps in 20 minutes. These kids ran around like cheetahs with a single point aim of hunting the maximum number of bottle caps. Eventually the consolidated total was above 1,200 caps! Applause! Everyone was declared a winner because everyone prevented soil from contamination due to stray bottle caps. Energy level reading on kids’ meters: HIGH. Energy level reading on adults’ meters: HIGH.

It was so exhilarating to be with these kids whose frenzy radiated on to us adults and we were now even more excited to plant trees with them. Each one of these kids was agog with the next sequence of events. They cited all good reasons why we should plant trees. And they understood watering them is even more important than merely the act of plantation. Our volunteers taught them how to treat saplings like an infant and how to carefully plant them.

What next? Thanks to their insurmountable spirits, 25 chilbil and 25 amaltas saplings planted within about 20-25 minutes. They even assured us they would be watering them every day while going back home from their school. They assured us they would not litter and would also take the message home to their parents. Future of India… Secured! We distributed chocolates and biscuits as our humble token of appreciation of their contribution.

This day has to be undoubtedly one of our most exciting cleanliness and plantation drives to date. If children are the future of our nation then we must invest in them. Let’s create a healthy environment for them. Let’s also involve them. Let’s also do our bit.

Let’s not litter. Let’s find dustbins instead of excuses. Let’s find toilets instead of excuses. Let’s plant more native trees instead of excuses. And let’s realize our responsibility in keeping our city clean instead of excuses. Only then we would be able to have secure future.

We need everyone to do their bit. Join us and help us in our mission!