Many thanks
to all participants for submitting their photos and sharing their climate change stories!
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Yaye Aminata Diop, 19 years
St-Louis, SenegalYaye Aminata is in the Upper 6th Form.
She has been involved in the British Council's Connecting Classroom programme since 2006.
"You will pick up this garbage!" Penda repeated angrily with a fork in her hand. "I won't pick up anything", Ramata replied brandishing a bottle full of sand. "I will not pick up anything because the street does not belong to you, it belongs to everyone."
The onlookers split into two parts, some defended Penda while the others were for Ramata. The latter had dumped a box of wastes in the street nearby Penda's home; this is what had created the conflict. I intervened and told Ramata that she was wrong. The people became silent and listened to me. I said that I had learnt at school that the climate is dangerously changing, so people are running a great risk. I added that the environment is being damaged by these sorts of actions. The atmosphere is poisoned by garbage and trash. As a result of the bad quality of the air my mother suffers from a lung disease. If we don't change our ways, people living in this district could get sick. This is the reason why people say that prevention is better than cure.I agreed with Penda that the street belongs to the community but added that this does not give us the right to pollute it. People have the right to live in a healthy environment - as the saying goes "a sound mind in a sound body".
What's more, there are trash boxes and carriages to remove garbage, so why do we throw dirt in the river and streets? We must work together and have a spirit of sacrifice and service to save the environment. We are responsible first for a clean and healthy environment. Let us not dump and burn our household waste! Let us protect the river that gives us fish! Let us plant trees in our schools and our district!
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