limpieza en la comunidad

Trash contamination is one of the major environmental and health problems in my community. Littering is disgustingly normal here. It is so much more common to see a child or adult throw a piece of trash on the ground rather than in a trash can. And the trash that is actually collected is burned. This problem is not necessarily the fault of the community members. They are simply accustomed to these methods, and have never been taught different ways or reasons why these behaviors are harmful to their health and their environment. What’s more, there is no system for trash management or collection, so there are little or no options available other than throwing or burning trash on the ground.

For several months, I have been working with a committee to tackle this problem. It is a pretty big issue that cannot be solved overnight. We have met with the district municipality to discuss our options and have plans to continue to work on this issue by setting up a trash management program. We held several community-wide meetings to raise awareness about the problem and its effects on our families and environment. During these meetings, we also planned a community-wide “limpieza,” clean-up day. We made the project into a competition to motivate all of the families to participate. The community was divided into sectors and each sector competed to be the cleanest. It turned out to be a huge success and there was overwhelming community participation. Our limpieza and community meetings were first steps in working on maintaining a clean and healthy community. The committee is going to continue to work with the community and municipality to work on this problem.