A story published at Bamboo Delight Magazine
(Minn) Myoh Minn Oo
“Eco-Warriors Nyaung Shwe” was founded on 19th September on World Clean-Up Day in 2019. Although it was the date of founding the organization, Sue has been aware of environmental conservation and issues before this day so she by herself has been doing environmental protection activities and reducing the use of plastics at her home. Moreover, she loves the natural environment and after seeing the environment getting damaged because of the plastics waste, she thought about how she can help. Then she thought of doing it with an organization systematically because doing it alone would only clean my house and surroundings.
She said, “There were activities like planting trees and picking up trash but it was in cooperation with other organizations and only on special days and occasions. I thought about starting my own group so that I can do those kinds of activities regularly whenever I want to. There are many kids in my neighborhood because of the library and summer school so I thought about organizing a group with them. But I didn’t want the kids to be seen as mere trash-pickers by others. So I thought about giving a name,’Eco-Warriors’ for their group. Juu Juu helped me pick this name.”
“The kids liked it so much when I printed the name with a logo. Their first activity in a group of 20 kids was on the street they live in. Thirteen trash bins with Eco-Warriors logo were put along the road and the groups of kids picks up the trash every Friday. The kids were free on Fridays because the schools were closed because of the pandemic and the coup. Another reason for choosing Friday was because it is the environmental conservation day recognized by our Summer School.”
“These days , the kids have to go to school on Fridays so I changed the environmental conservation day to Sunday. Every Sunday we pick up trash, clean up the environment, plant trees and make campaigns for reducing plastics. Also, we do activities like shooting environmental awareness videos or songs or practicing dance to keep the kids lively. A group of 20 Eco-warriors became well-known after a month and many of their friends wanted to be a part of this so now the number of Eco-warriors have increased.”
“After accepting all the kids who want to take part in this activity, it became a group of about 100 kids. So, I divided them into 10 small groups systematically with 2 leaders in each group. Regularly each group picks a date to pick up trash and clean up but on Sundays, all 10 groups meet up and discuss the time and place for the activity and I give the details for the activity.”
“It has been two times that the Eco-warriors took part on the World Clean-up Day. We couldn't do much for the first time in 2020 because of the pandemic. At the second time, we cleaned up a mountain of trash complained by the people from the neighborhood for hygiene standards which were recklessly thrown by the villagers of Phayargyi village. Twenty leaders from Eco-warriors and some volunteers from the neighborhood took part in that activity.”
“About 30 people cleaned up that pile of trash for three days. It costed about 3 lakhs from the group fund to clean up within three days. We had to rent bulldozers and tractors to move the piles of trash. We planted trees in that area, made fences and provided volunteers food and drinks so it costed around three lakhs. However, the pleasure of success was worth it. That was a successful activity of Eco-warriors. We are continuing the cleaning and planting tree activities every Sunday. Our target is to keep Nyaungshwe clean of plastics and waste.”
There is a waste management service company called ‘Inle Rose’ in Nyaungshwe but some unintelligent people still throw the trash recklessly. But Nyaunshwe township became cleaner than before in over a year because of Eco-warriors. People empathize and respect the kids so they start to throw trash in the right place. Most places of the town, especially where eco-warriors live, became clean of plastic waste and trash piles. That’s a visible change brought by Eco-warriors themselves Another thing is the parents and guardians of eco-warriors. They stopped putting trash and throwing recklessly but started to buy trash bags from Inle Rose. This is all the efforts of Eco-warriors.
“Eco-warriors group consists of children from five quarters among eight of Nyaungshwe Townships - Nandawun, Mengli, Tharsi, Kanthar and Phayargyi quarters. It’s about 150 personnel in total. The regular active ones are around 70 to 80. Some married women can’t always go with the group so they do what they can, like reducing plastics or making DIY eco-bricks. I built a reading room with the materials they made and brought to me at my house. After every Sunday activity, I always treat the kids drinks and snacks. It is usually donated by friends from both local and abroad but sometimes the people living in the area we’re cleaning give the eco-warriors snacks.”
“I am proud to have made this group and to have them in Nyaungshwe. If not, the mindsets about throwing the trash systematically, reducing plastics and loving mother nature would not have originated in the minds of these over 100 children and youths . Now, I am delighted because not only the eco-warriors but also their families became people who can prospect the natural environment we’re living in.”
“As for me, I would be doing what I can to protect the Mother Nature and I wanna meet more and more people who come to share knowledge on environmental conservation to the kids. Also, I want to see the kids sharing knowledge sessions to the people in the community. I still need a lot of learning and knowledge but given the situations and age I cannot do as well as the kids so I want the kids to take the lead. Most of all, I want Eco-warriors to remain in existence for Nyaungshwe township forever.”