In a bold stand against pollution, youths from 17 churches and seven communities across Lami gathered yesterday for a large-scale clean-up campaign and sports day despite the early morning rain.
MYF secretary Filipe Sabe said the initiative was sparked by youths who were fed up with the growing levels of rubbish piling up in public places, especially in Lami.
“Every year, we do volunteer work, and this year, we decided to come together and clean up the wider Lami area along with our sports day,” Mr Sabe said.
“This initiative was brought up — during one of our meetings — by our own youths who saw the amount of rubbish that was on the beach and at Tikaram Park, even in town.”
He said they didn’t stop at just picking up litter, they also invited key government services to participate in the community event.
“We had also invited the Fiji Police Force, Ministry of Health, National Fire Authority and the RFMF Navy to our sports day,” he said.
“We are also conducting HIV/AIDS screening as well.”
He said the motivation behind the clean-up stemmed from pride in their community, and the desire to make Lami a welcoming place for everyone.
“We are tired of seeing rubbish in Lami, especially on the beach, and we want tourists to come and enjoy their time here, and have a picnic at the Tikaram Park,” he said.
“We don’t want them coming and seeing broken beer bottles on the beach, or rubbish piled on our park, or scattered in town. That is why we decided to do this.”
