Keeping Samoa clean

By Aruna Lolani 18 August 2017, 12:00AM

Please keep the environment clean.

That is a message from Douglas David of Leulumoega tai.

When speaking to the Village Voice yesterday, the 40-year-old was unhappy about the number of  people who drive along the roads and throw their rubbish out the window.

“That’s the only problem we have to deal with every day. There’s not a day that goes by without rubbish on the side of this road,” said Douglas.

“It’s a hard thing to fix because people must think that there are servants to pick up their trash bags that they have chucked out in this area.”

According to Douglas, since the problem began, the chiefs of the village thought digging a rubbish hole close to the road would solve the problem

“They thought that people would use their common sense and throw their rubbish bags in there instead of on the side of the road.

“We have tried to respond to what people are doing and dug that hole for them but it hasn’t changed what they are doing; they are still throwing rubbish on the roadside.

“You know, I’m just telling you this because when people just cast their rubbish on the side of the roads, not only do we have to pick it up, we need to clean it up because if we don’t, it’s going to cause a very bad smell for us and that affects our health.

“You see, there’s already a hole for you there to throw your plastics inside, so use that instead of the road, there are no slaves here for you to pick up after your mess.”

Douglas was in fact on his way yesterday to get some wood and check the roads to see if there was any rubbish.

“This land here belongs to one of the village’s high chiefs and he has assigned me to be responsible for it -- making sure that no one has left their rubbish on the roadside.

“Keeping our environment clean is not a one person’s job, this is a job that applies to all of us. So let’s all work together and make this a simple matter before it gets worse.”

By Aruna Lolani 18 August 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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