Hi! This is Ahsan here from the Pakistan team. And I’m here to tell you about a problem that doesn’t always make for polite dinner conversation – waste management.
Here in Pakistan, waste management can be a big problem. Millions of people each year get sick because of contamination, and urban areas take on a big share of the issue. Lack of city planning and the absence of proper systems are responsible, but people’s actions are a part of it too.
So the first place to start chipping away at the problem? Education.
We brought together 28 young people at one of our schools in Islamabad for a training, all about garbage disposal and reuse. I often see garbage spread around on the streets surrounding school in this area, so we wanted to start with ways that even students can help mitigate the problem.
We asked the students to gather plastic bottles over the course of a week. Then, we held a session on the three “Rs” (reduce, reuse and recycle) and the children were then set loose to decorate the school walls with different kinds of plants using the bottles as planters.
They learned how to cut bottles in different shapes, planting all-season plants and hanging them on the wall.
Not only did the plants and bottles look nice, they also lent a fresh and healthy feel to the entire room!
“It is very interesting skill I will use it decorate my home and let others know too,” said Liba, one of the students.
A wonderful and joyful day was over, but really it’s only the beginning – these kids will continue to live out and practice their newly learned skills. What a great opportunity to turn enthusiasm into action!
Meet Ahsan!Ahsan is a development practitioner serving Alight as the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in Pakistan. Ahsan’s role is to shape facts and figures into presentable information that set evidence for decision making process at various levels, ranging from inception to planning of new ideas, implementation to evaluating the effects attributable to certain interventions.
