All Clean On Cleanup Day

For a day at least the section of the Braamfontein Spruit running through the Parkview golf course was pristine with wild ducks swimming in the ponds, all thanks to World Cleanup Day last Saturday, 16 September.

About 50 volunteers from Greenside High (they came in a busload), the Greenside Residents' Association and members of Johannesburg New Dawn tackled the spruit at the golf club, successfully dodging flying golf balls in the process.

                          Pristine after the cleanup last Saturday

This was all thanks to the efforts of Babette Gallard and Paul Chinn, who started the Cleanup last year, concentrating on the Braamfontein Spruit and its tributaries.

This year cleanup efforts were extended to Soweto to the north and Alexandra to the south and a whole lot of river space in between.

                            President Mbali Zulu, Babette Gallard and Paul Chinn in Soweto

Paul and Babette report that more than 100 organisations took part this year, with more than 2000 volunteers getting their hands dirty. They estimate that 25 tons of waste was removed from Johannesburg's streets, parks and rivers on the day.

    There was no shortage of volunteers to help pick up rubbish in Soweto

    Pupils from Greenside High after their Cleanup session

The cleanup confirmed that community power can literally move mountains and transform trash-filled landscapes, says Babette.

"We must safeguard the natural environment and strengthen our city's response to the waste management problem. United with local communities, we believe we can make a meaningful difference, leave a legacy of hope, and sustain a cleaner future for generation to come," said President Mbali.

                         Brad Neille and one of his  daughters, Suzy

One of the visitor volunteers at the Parkview Golf Club was Brad Neille, our speaker from last week and a resident off Parkview, where he is an estate agent.

Brad spoke to the club about his experiences as a Rotary exchange student in Brazil, a programme he had learnt about from a Brazilian boy who had joined them at St John's College in Johannesburg as a Rotary long-term exchange student in 1995.

                        Brad with Joan Sainsbury and Barbara Angove at the meeting

The following year Brad set off for Brazil to a world where nobody else around him spoke English and he could immerse himself in a new culture. He says he was the only "foreigner" in his first home village, about 4 hours south of Sau Paolo.

There he founded an Interact club, which is still going strong after 27 years.

While at the University of Pretoria he formed the Rotaract Club of Hatfield, in 2001 and said he'll be willing to talk to other Rotary clubs about forming and maintaining Interact and Rotaract clubs and about spreading the word about the value of exchange programmes.

Meeting: The meeting tomorrow will feature feedback on Donate a Loo and on the World Cleanup Day.

A Thought for the Week: If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. - William Blake (1757 - 1827)