Joining hands for a cleaner globe

Recently, the Pakistan Association in Dubai held a beach clean-up drive with great enthusiasm. This was part of the “Clean Up The World” campaign organised by Dubai Municipality and was held on Jumeirah Open Beach with the slogan: ‘Our Eyes On Our Beaches’.

The crew there was very hospitable and polite. T-shirts and caps were handed out by the crew, with smiles on their faces. There were also some people from Dubai Municipality, lending a hand in putting up the banners and handing out merchandise. In no time, a huge crowd had gathered and the beach was buzzing with activity.

Many schools, offices and other organisations took part in the campaign and people of many different nationalities participated in the drive.

The clean-up campaign started at 9.30am after a few instructions were given and garbage bags were distributed. Everybody set off to clean up the entire stretch of the beach strewn with garbage and other wastes. I was dumbstruck by the amount of litter and immediately started cleaning the beach. I put in a lot of hard work and made sure not to leave even a single piece of scrap lying around. With a lot of help from my brother, Raunak, who was also a part of this initiative, and all other volunteers, we cleaned up the beach in no time.

This event raised awareness among all about the commonly-heard catchphrase ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’. I think it was a great campaign and helped all of us realise that we should all keep Mother Earth clean and green.

Whenever we use something, we should dispose it of only in assigned bins, plenty of which are available in Dubai. This will help ensure that the need to organise such a clean-up campaign is reduced. This way, volunteers will not have to clear up someone else’s waste. Had this waste been disposed of immediately, it would not have been rotting in landfills or beaches.

Therefore, I encourage all residents of the UAE to clean up after themselves so that their activities do not endanger Nature. On Earth Day, let all of us make a pledge that we will keep our Mother Earth clean and green.

The reader is a grade eight student based in Sharjah.

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