Church cleans city streets
World Mission Society Church of God has made it their mission to clean up the streets of Durban through a volunteering church programme and did a clean-up from ML Sultan College campus to the Inanda taxi rank.
A CHURCH based in Berea, World Mission Society Church of God (ASEZ), has made it their mission to clean up the streets of Durban through a volunteering church programme called ‘A clean environment reduces crime’. On Saturday, January 27, volunteers from ASEZ took to the streets of Durban to clean up the streets and the taxi ranks which are almost always congested with commuters.
The volunteers donned their blue-and-green overcoats, started outside ML Sultan College campus and worked their way to the Inanda taxi rank where many people applauded them for their work.
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The group of volunteers consisted of about 30 ASEZ members and their families. Sipho Mazibuko, one of the volunteers at ASEZ, said, “There is a ‘law of broken windows’ that states that if a vehicle or house with a broken window is left unattended, crime spreads around that point. Conversely, if the environment is improved by erasing graffiti from the streets and removing rubbish, minor crimes in the city will be reduced. This means that violent crimes will also decrease.”
According to Mazibuko, “The members decided to come together and improve the street environment as a first step in preventing people from suffering from crime. ASEZ is carrying out various activities like this one around the world, including crime prevention, climate change response, community service and disaster relief,” he said.
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The organisation says they are also accelerating global environmental clean-up activities through a movement called The ABC Movement. The ABC movement is a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of blue carbon (a carbon dioxide stored in the world’s coastal and marine ecosystems, such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses) which is absorbed by marine ecosystems while also purifying streams, rivers and oceans. An example of this was activities that were also carried out at Blue Lagoon Beach, Durban.
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