South Asian Youth Conference: Hoping to inspire by example, delegates launch clean-up drive

Sweep the streets, collect trash, but fail to draw in locals.


Our Correspondent November 10, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


In an effort to promote cleanliness in the country and spread this message to the entire region, delegates from the ongoing South Asian Youth Conference gathered bright and early in G-9 Markaz on Friday.


Around 120 students from across South Asia, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Maldives, were seen sweeping the streets in G-9, gathering trash in large plastic bags and raising eyebrows from passers-by.

An exhausted Lahara Ranaweer, who is representing Sri Lanka at the conference, feels that leading by example is the best way to inspire others to care for the surrounding they often take for granted.

“I’m not participating as a foreigner in this country but as a citizen of this region,” she explained, as she weeded out pieces of tape near an abandoned cricket ground in G-9, where unkempt grass was littered with trash.

Delegates from Maldives, Hussain Mohammad Haneef, 23 and Aaiz Ahmed, 19, felt that they were unable to achieve the kind of visible impact they had hoped to make, pointing to the wide expanse of field that was only relatively cleaner than when they came.

“The idea is to draw people out and clean up an area, starting from the periphery of their own homes,” said Hira Ali, assistant brand manager at Djuice, which sponsored the drive as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Naseem Khan Achakzai, who organised the drive as part of the South Asian Youth Conference, said regardless of how big the impact of the clean-up drive was, a positive message was instilled in the delegates and delivered to locals who were exposed to the activity.

“The delegates will take back values and solutions exchanged during the conference to their own countries, contributing to the success of South Asia as a region where the youth are future change agents,” he added.

A local, Mohammad Waqas, who sat nearby watching the activity with a grin, inquired whether the delegates were getting ready to have a cricket match. He said that the ground was well-maintained when it was under the control of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Now disputed, it was being neglected even though hundreds of boys from the sector gathered there to play cricket in the evenings.

“It’s good that they are cleaning it up,” he said, unmotivated to join in the activity.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2012.

 

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