The Change I Wish to See

The Change I Wish to See

Student: Panashe Madenene    Language: English    Country: Zimbabwe
School: Churu Primary    Grade: Grade 7    Word count: 472

The change I wish to see is cleaner streets to promote hygiene in my community. There is a lot of litter and not enough bins to put litter. Every time I walk through my community, I see the same problem: plastic bags blowing in the wind, bottle on the sidewalk and rubbish in drains. This is called littering. Littering is when people throw trash on the ground instead of in a bin. It might seem like a small thing, but it is a causing big problems in our community. People should take responsibilities for their trash and treat public spaces with respect.

First, littering makes our environment unhealthy. When plastics and food waste are thrown anywhere, they block drains. During the rainy season the water cannot flow. That standing water also becomes a home for mosquitoes. This leads to more cases of malaria, cholera and others sicknesses. Rubbish also attracts rats and flies. Children should not play near dirty waters because they will get different infections. I wish to see a community where our streets, schools and markets are clean so that we can stay healthy.

Second, littering hurts our environment and animals. Most of the litter we see is plastic. Plastic does not break down for hundreds of years. It ends up in rivers, fields and even the animals stomachs. Trees and soil also get damaged. Our community will never look beautiful if it is covered in trash. The change I want is for people to understand that the land we live on is ours to protect, not to destroy. I wish to see a community that we are proud of. To reduce the problem we need bins at bus stops, markets, schools and parks so people have nowhere to make excuses. Schools and churches should teach that littering is not okay. If each student picks one piece of trash a day, our street will change in one month.

Once a month neighbours, youth groups and businesses can come together to clean one area. When people work together they also learn to care together. I wish to see laws that actually punish people who litter in public. If there are fines for throwing trash on the street people will think twice. But the law must be applied fairly to everyone. I want to see recycling bins for plastics, glass and paper in schools, markets and neighbourhoods. Companies can even pay for people collecting bottles and cans. This turns trash into money.

If we clean the environment we can have healthy people and a litter free community. Cleanliness starts with one person with one piece of trash, with one decision to do better.