We all learned that Earth is the only planet in our Solar System that can sustain life. She provided everything for free, the fresh air that we inhale, the food that we eat every day, the clean water that we drink, and our shelter that protects us from cold and heat. The only favor she asks from us is respect, care, value, and properly utilizes the natural resources around us. As one of our ways of giving back and letting her feel our empathy and sincerity, we performed the Clean-up Dive.
The Youth Council in my country, Philippines is called Sangguniang Kabataan or SK Officers. It is the community council that represents the youth in every Barangay and in every Municipalities. The SK Officers of barangay Daantabogon invited all the youth organization in our school to participate the Clean-up Drive held last April 28, 2024, Sunday morning.
The target time is from 8:00 in the morning until 12:00 noon. However, we finished earlier than we expected because everybody are moving together to accomplish the task. As what the writer John Heywood says, “Many hands make light work.”
After receiving the invitation letter from the SK Officials of the barangay, I automatically contacted all the YES-O members in our group chat about the upcoming activity. I informed them to ask permission from their parents to allow them to take part of the activity. I let them bring a parents’ consent signed by their parents before going to the venue to make sure that their mother and father really approve their participation on the said Clean-up drive. This activity is a way of paying back and making our Mother Earth happy.
As a YES-O adviser, it is a source of pride to be invited such event because it is very relevant to the goal and objective of our organization, the Youth for Environment in Schools Organization (YES-O).
There are three organizations who participated on the Coastal Clean-up executed by the SK Officials of barangay Daantabogon. The advisers decided to require the members of each organization to wear their group shirt in order to recognize them easily.
The officers of Supreme Secondary Learner Government (SSLG) are wearing the royal blue and white shirt. The officers of Barkada Kontra Droga (BKD) wears white with dark blue sleeves, and lastly, all the members of Youth for Environment in Schools Organization (YES-O) wears white with yellow green sleeves. All the advisers of the said organizations were present and joined on the said program.
The SK Officials of the barangay who implemented the Clean-up Drive are also there and they are wearing the casual attire.
Our Meet-up Venue
The meet up time is 7:30 in the morning and I arrived 7:00 in the morning at the venue, which is 30 minutes in advance. The venue of the opening program and the closing program will be at barangay Daantabogon Covered Court.
In front of the covered court is the ocean where we will sort out the Clean-up Drive.
Before coming at the venue, I see to it that the YES-O members prepared all the cleaning paraphernalia such as broom, bolo, dustpan, and empty sacks where we will place the garbage that we collected.
I also informed them to bring gloves if they have at home, extra shirt, towel, sun glasses, a lot of water, and a hat or a cap that possibly protect them from the heat of the sun.
The SK Officials or the members of the Youth Council lead us to the coastal area where we will start to clean.
We clean first the area near the bridge and near the houses.
We prioritized to pick up the non-biodegradable waste like plastic wrappers, food wrappers, disposable diapers and napkins, glass bottle, plastic bottle, metals (such as cans, nails, tie wire, deformed bar, angle bar, corrugated sheet), shopping bags, unused clothes, Styrofoam, rubber, aluminum, disposable batteries, electronic parts, and all the trash that does not decompose easily.
Then, we headed next to the coastline and pick up all the debris and scrap. We also segregated the waste according to plastic, metal, glass, hazardous waste materials, and biodegradable waste.
Some are sweeping on the street and on the beach, while others are pruning the mangroves and other trees in the area that might cause hazards to the people who live near the zone.
The others are picking the leaves and the branch of the trees and some piece of woods on the coast.
Other members are removing the plastics on the roots of the Mangroves growing in the area. On the other hand, some participants are going to the water and remove the garbage floating and some glass and plastic bottles that pollute the water.
After collecting all the waste materials in the area, we ask to the members of the Youth Council of the barangay (the SK Officers) on where and how we will dispose all the junk that we collected, and they told us to just put the garbage on the corner of the barangay covered court because they will be the one to take care of it. They already contacted and informed the garbage collector in the municipality to pick up the trash.
The water well near the covered court
Then and there, we collected water from the small water well in the area to wash and clean our hands, and then we proceed back to the barangay covered court for the closing remarks.
The SK Officers are thankful to all of us for hearing them and taking part of the Coastal Clean-up. They told us that the activity will never be successful without our presence and support on the program.
They also humbly ask forgiveness and favor to us to extend our patience for the inconvenience of the venue due to lack of chairs, and also for the bread and the juice that they prepared for us. We understand the situation, and we appreciated so much their hospitality to us. Our purpose is to help, participate, and contribute on the good program that they implemented.
Together, we will make our Mother Earth healthier and a safer place to live.
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