Around 40 members of the Ritchie community, including local religious leaders, rolled up their sleeves to clean their streets and repair potholes. The initiative, led by Pastor Louis Farland, aims to inspire residents to take responsibility for their neighbourhood.
AROUND 40 members of the Ritchie community, including local religious leaders, rolled up their sleeves to clean their streets and repair potholes.
The initiative, the brainchild of Pastor Louis Farland, aims to inspire residents to take responsibility for their neighbourhood.
“Our focus is to clear the entire Ritchie of the heaps of dumped rubble lying in our streets. We also want to use the opportunity to motivate our community to take control of the cleanliness of our area and to promote a sense of pride in our community. We live in a time where we cannot blame or merely wait on the government to do simple duties we as community members can execute ourselves,” said Farland.
“Through this project, we will also monitor those who are guilty of dumping their rubble on our streets. This is a community initiative and some of the people responsible for illegal dumping are from the very same community. We need to show with our actions that we will no longer condone illegal dumping, as it forces some residents to live in filth conditions.”
Farland said community members contributed some of the resources required for the cleaning project and the Sol Plaatje Municipality assisted with the transportation of the rubble.
“We received resources from some of our community members and sponsors. The municipality also assisted with the filling of potholes on the roads.”
He added that the project is an ongoing initiative and he hoped more sponsors as well as community members would get on board.
“This is not a once-off programme but it is ongoing throughout the year. We will break it up into phases. We have set a target for ourselves, where we want to clear the majority of the areas by November this year. We will need more hands onboard to realise this target as there are many areas where dumping is rife.
“We believe that by reaching our goal we will not only have a clean community, but a healthier one too.
“We also hope that businesses will open their hearts by donating some of the resources needed for the project. Also, we are an extension of the arms of the municipality and hope they will not get weary of partnering with us on this project,” Farland said.
