Part protest and part community upliftment project, cleaning parks and greenbelts on weekends is being done by those who understand we are all pieces of a greater whole.
The cornerstones of the surrounding suburb’s community-led initiatives dedicated their Saturday morning to ridding the Roodekrans Park of litter and trash, 20 March. A total of 32 volunteers from Lions Club Wilro Park, Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch, Protea Ridge Scout Troop and Absolut Security pulled on their rubber gloves to fill a massive 59 bags worth of garbage from the beautiful neighbourhood park.
The day was part of a wider cause championed by Mark McClue and his Action for Responsible Management of OUR Rivers (ARMOUR) civil society environmental group. Six years ago, ARMOUR began their fight not only to clean up Johannesburg’s river network, but educate communities on the need for water conservation and the ethical disposing of harmful waste.
The #cleanariver campaign was centred around World Water Day which was commemorated on Monday, 22 March, and Lions Club Wilro Park helped spread ARMOUR’s message to the other concerned community groups. “We have a strong collaboration with community organisations and through active citizens we can help make a difference downstream. ARMOUR is an NGO that provides the voice of water,” said Mark.
Lions Wilro Park President, Sandy van Heerden, was key to getting the feet through the park and while happy with the results, knows the fight never ends. Reflecting, she said, “Water is one of our most precious resources for both humans and animals. People need to find more responsible ways of disposing of their rubbish and should definitely not expect others to clean up after them as we should all be doing our bit to save our planet.”
