Volunteers and refugees team up for large litter pick-up
Today’s distribution was a little different. After handing out food packs and offering services to refugees, we started a litter pick of the area. Something we often do. But it turned out to be rewarding and fun as many refugees came to join in, and it was a great opportunity to carry on our conversations from earlier that day.
Because of tough police action in recent days people have been on the move and this was a new site. However it was nice to see the guys not caring if it was ‘our/their’ litter or stuff that might have already accumulated over time – we collected everything and even split out the recyclables as a team, then gathered everything up for appropriate disposal.
A couple of little children also decided to get involved and ran back and forth handing us things, which was really sweet – it’s lovely to see them practise recycling from a young age and learning the names of each recycling category in English.
As a bonus, we got to chat with the refugees for a bit longer than usual without all the chaos of distribution going on around us. One of our volunteers even tried to explain recycling to a few people who didn’t speak her language – we’re not sure how well the gestures will have translated to them, but at least it’s a start!
A whopping twelve bags of litter were collected by the end of it, plus another three bags of recyclable materials – so all in all, a productive and enjoyable afternoon.
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