Locals Volunteer for Kisumu Cleanup Exercise

Kisumu,

Friday, September 15, 2023

KNA Kisumu by Zipporah Akoth/Feliciah Wanyonyi

Various Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in Kisumu County have come together in an effort to create awareness on environmental conservation and clean-up exercises to uphold the principles of World Clean-Up Day.

According to Mr. Tom Ogalo, the coordinator of the event and founder of Jijenge Youth Organization, the global activity carried out every third Saturday of September was conducted this year with the goal of reducing waste from the source.

“World Clean-up Day brings the community together to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining a clean and safe environment. We have to reduce this waste from the source which in this case is the slum areas around Kisumu. The only way to do this is by giving our community the right knowledge through sensitization to take care of the environment,” said Mr. Ogalo.

Mr. Kelvin Otieno, an environmentalist, speaking during the clean-up drive on Friday, explained that the three days initiative targets to clean up a kilometer every day covering Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) Kisumu campus, Manyatta Chief's Camp, St Teresa Girls Secondary School Kibuye before finalizing the exercise in Maseno University on Saturday.

“The original plan involved doing a cleanup for a single day but we received requests from Maseno and KMTC Kisumu campus to include them in this year’s activities. Since the youth take up a large population of our society, we gave them an opportunity to participate in the conservation of the environment,” emphasized Mr. Otieno.

 He believes that every individual plays a vital role in environmental conservation and that while in most cases, the practical environmental work is designated to given institutions and government departments, conserving the environment is a collective responsibility.

The annual activity is observed under the premises of this year’s theme, ‘The world is changed by your example not by your opinion’ implying that it is a joint measure by all individuals to join hands in conserving the environment to save the future of tomorrow.

This year's World Clean-Up Day has attracted up to 300 participants, many of whom are members of community-based organizations, including Homeless of Kisumu, Let’s Do It Kenya, Better Me, and the Jijenge Youth Organization.

Courtesy; KNA