As I took one of my “ walks,” I happened upon one of my favorite street sweepers, and after our usual exchange of pleasantries, she pointed out a package of neatly packed and tied garbage with complaints that someone had dropped their garbage by the roadside. Incidentally, these were non-biodegradable garbage. Immediately, my mind went to the recent spate of floods across the country, much of which is traceable to blocked drainage and the fact that people have refused to learn and teach how to responsibly dispose of garbage.

My mind switched to some years back when I was teaching Sunday school/children’s church, and how I would always hound the children for dropping biscuit and sweet wrappers on the floor when the dustbins and garbage bins were provided for their use. This training and retraining continued, but there was a family of three siblings who I observed NEVER littered the floor. They so impressed me that one day, I engaged their mother to find out how she had managed to discipline them in that regard. The experience is worth sharing.

Mummy Shayo, as she was fondly addressed, gave a coy smile and spoke. “Uhm…we learnt to do the right thing the hard way. We had never really been mindful of littering the streets or other public spaces, but one day, the family was driving back from an interstate visit to my parents and had consumed a large quantity of bananas given to us during the visit. Suddenly, my husband looked back and saw the car floor littered with banana peels, so he instructed that they be thrown out of the window. Lashe, the youngest, decided to throw them out of his side and they landed smack in the middle of the road at a time the vehicle behind us had negotiated to overtake us. His rear wheels slid over the peels and caused a spin, whereby he brushed our car. Needless to say, we had to apologise and fix the minor repairs on both his car and ours, which was a hard lesson we learnt for our heedlessness…never to litter the road. Thereafter, it became easy to apply the lesson learnt to all facets of litter, and the children were made to not just clean up, but serve some punishment whenever they littered anywhere, be it at home or outside the home. It has since become ingrained, and even where they cannot find a bin, they would keep the garbage with them until they locate a bin to dislodge the items.”

It is never too early nor too late to teach children the value of a neat environment and prevent the disaster associated with untidy and dirty environments. If we all keep our spaces and environment clean and tidy, it translates to the larger society. Recently, someone asked what the street sweepers would do, as he felt they would be out of a job. My tart response was that they sweep the streets and keep sand and silt from building up, not waste and garbage. Let us learn to keep our environments clean and prevent health issues, accidents, and other hazards. The saying goes, “A cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind.” In other words, physical clutter can contribute to or reflect an unfocused or cluttered mind, eliminating peace and calmness.

LET US JOIN HANDS TOGETHER TO TRAIN AND RETRAIN THE POPULACE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL NEATNESS AND CLEANLINESS.

Love

Havilah