Surat used to be one of the cleanest cities in India but not now anymore. I have seen public places like beaches, riverfronts being dirty most of the time. The last time I went on a family trip to “Dumas, Surat” it was all dirty and littered. Hence I decided to participate as well as organize cleanup drives over the weekends. During the cleanup drives, we even focused on the correct disposal of trash by contacting the SMC after picking it up. We separated compostable and non-compostable trash too. The segregated waste was further disposed of responsibly like dry waste is recycled and wet waste is used in compost. While going on clean-ups I demonstrated the following LOs:
LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
I sometimes used to plan cleanup drives on weekends on the WhatsApp group created by my fellow schoolmates for common announcements. I used to initiate the plans and we used to successfully go and clean up the beach. Initially, it was tough because deciding the place, timing, getting the contact of people, many people join midway but in the end, we finally did it. Clean-up dates were also initiated by me taking into account everybody`s scheduling and ensuring a minimum of 4-5 people joined us.
LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Sometimes our plans got canceled because of end-moment cancellation, transport issues, rains, or lack of volunteers to conduct the cleanup drives. During such situations, I did not feel like continuing this experience because it took a lot of effort to plan, give details, arrange the transport but I remained committed and demonstrated perseverance then, finally I was able to successfully complete it.
LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
I am usually good at communication but collaborations skills are something I need to develop. Considering this, it was difficult for me to work with others during this experience because of time issues, non-matching schedules, etc. However, working collaboratively did make things easier as the workload was divided. For instance, one would bring gloves, one called up everybody, one arranged the transport. Hence I recognized the benefits of working in a group and developed collaborative skills.
LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
This CAS experience was a form of service for the environment where we engaged in contributing to solve the problem of land pollution where the segregation, proper disposal and pick up of waste has been taken care of. Pollution is the leading cause of global warming, in order to decrease land pollution we went on cleanup drives, hence our CAS project demonstrated engagement with global issues.
I also demonstrated several learner profiles during this CAS experience. I was a communicator as I initiated the plan sometimes, communicated with volunteers about the details of the drive. I was a thinker when scheduling the event and I tried to come up with sustainable solutions regarding the disposal of trash that has been collected through the drives.
The highlight of this experience for me was when strangers appreciated us and guided us. It also made me understand certain factors which amplify the problem of cleanliness like the improper placement of garbage bins like placing in some areas where the bin is not clearly visible, such as in the riverfront, etc.
If I perform this activity again, I will make sure to change some things like I will prefer reusable gloves and sustainable bags to collect waste. However, the entire experience was successful and I learned a lot from this experience. I feel more connected to nature as well 🙂
Evidence:
