Amanzimtoti community members spent the last 12 weeks cleaning up their local river, and the hard work they put in is incredible!
Amanzimtoti, South Africa (23 June 2021) – Shaun Callaghan and his fellow community members have worked tirelessly to clear their local river of invasive plants, pollution and litter, and planted 100 indigenous trees to help boost their immediate environment.
More and more, we are sharing tales of empowering acts of civic responsibility, men and women highlighting their civic virtues to help those around them and better the lives of their fellow community members.
Shaun and his friends spent the last 12 weeks making a difference. They worked even though they got no support from the local government. They were told what they planned to do wasn’t possible, but they pushed through and did it anyway with the help of some incredible sponsors.
“Pity the municipality and local authorities and leaders didn’t bother to assist in any way, again. Got told many times that we would fail but that just made everyone more ampt to succeed.
The amount of birdlife that has returned already has made the blood, sweat and tears so worth it.
Plus we got to make many new friends.
Thanks for the awesome mission and memories. Thanks to Lasher Tools for the forks and pangas.”
If Shaun seems familiar, that is because we featured him back in 2018 when he and Barry Walker created the “Litterboom“, which was made out of repurposed 2-litre drinks bottles. The Litterboom floated above the water surface and stopped litter from floating down the river towards the ocean.
The most recent efforts have paid off, and birdlife is already returning to the once uninhabitable area! Along with the cleanup, Shaun has grown indigenous trees to plant back into areas riddled by alien plants. He has been planting the trees at Roseneath Wilds.
Take a look at some of the before and after photos from the last 12 weeks.
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