“BE the change you want to see in the word.” These are the words that epitomises uMhlanga resident Gwen Murrell.
When the 72-year-old heard about graffiti spoiling some of the rocks along the Umhlanga Promenade last week she decided to take on the cleaning project on her own. She was later joined by the Umhlanga Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP).
“As an artists I believe in painting the rocks and not painting on the rocks. The ocean is something my husband and I hold dear and I believe that we should all take care of it,” she said.
“Everybody complains and very few people actually ever do anything. Incensed by the fact that someone could damage or deface the rocks around our iconic lighthouse I decided to try and clean off the graffiti,” she told the Northglen News.
Murrell who frequently walks along the beach with her husband John, said various people saw the graffiti behind the uMhlanga lighthouse and expressed outrage. When she finally made her way to the site she said she was relieved to discover that the graffiti was simply charcoal and not aerosol paint. Using wet sand and stone she cleared the vandalism form the rocks.
The optimistic resident said she did not expect the response her action had prompted from the community. “I did not want any commendation or acknowledgment. I just wanted to do something good. I hope that through this people will realise that if we all pull our weight we can keep our beaches in pristine condition,” she said. A post shared on the Umhlanga UIP Facebook page garnered 74 likes and dozens of positive comments.
