Child Steps to Sustainability
We met Paulette one Saturday morning throughout our weekly village clear ups. Once we requested if she’d contemplate separating her sweeps, – leaves and pure waste to 1 aspect and plastics to a different, a translated reply got here throughout. “She says she doesn’t care.”
I’m going to take a wild guess and picture that individuals in a fishing village in one of many poorest international locations on this planet have no idea a lot concerning the chemical mixture of plastic waste. There is no such thing as a rubbish assortment, no details about waste.
I requested college students how lengthy they’ve been throwing trash on the bottom. “Depuis toujours,” since perpetually. Little doubt, they’re younger and have solely skilled all waste as equal, to be swept away for burning.
By no means Waste a Teachable Second
“Perhaps this woman may use some assist,” I say. From English to French to Magasy and again once more, a dialoge begins. What are plastics, how are they an issue?
Make Issues Higher Now
Vegetal waste can be utilized for gardening. It’s fairly unimaginable that villagers purchase tomatoes by the handfuls and stack them up on the market alongside the village streets. Everyone seems to be seemingly unaware tomatoes may very well be grown for gratis.
What if we grew our personal tomatoes?
That artistic query is how the brand new compositing program was born at Wings of Change. Proper right here on campus we have now a imaginative and prescient for a backyard and rising our personal greens. Because of an influence outage, college students had been capable of break free from class and get the brown staff set (branches and leaves). The inexperienced staff, vegetable peelings adopted in preparation for a compost program.
Replace on composting to comply with.
Tsara Nosy Be
As grace would have it, Paulette is a singer and considerably of a rombo instructor, a conventional kind clapping music in Madagascar. Paulette’s go to to campus was an excellent success and inspiration to maintain going.
Nothing like collaborative studying and a little bit of actual world downside fixing. Motion within the route of intention is how visions turn out to be realities. With our personal backyard, we will train others.
Misotra
Thanks Paulette, for staying open to what we needed to say about separating rubbish. And thanks for the rombo and dancing.
Tanya is a facilitator for artistic processes in downside fixing and educator. This weblog captures Tanya’s expertise as a visiting teacher in Nosy Be.
###