After observing that people in her community, including peers, were not interested in issues to do with the environment, she chose to be a peer educator and champion of environmental activism. This is the story of a National University of Science and Technology (NUST) student, Ms Thubelihle Rosyln Ndlovu, who has chosen to be the voice of the environment. The 22-year-old is pushing for a litter-free society and her desire is for all citizens to be well-informed about the adverse effects of throwing litter all over.
Ms Ndlovu started an anti-litter movement last month called “GreenZimbabwe” and wants to scale up the campaign for higher impact. The part two Environmental Science and Health student, said she was pained to see communities degrading the environment through pollution and is determined to reverse the tide. “I realised that many citizens are not really aware of the consequences of their daily conduct on the environment. I cannot blame them because many of them are just not informed,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She said as an environmental activist, she had taken it upon herself and her team to sensitise the people on environmental issues especially waste management and climate change.
Ms Ndlovu said by enlightening people on climate change as well as educating them on how to mitigate pollution and climate change, she believes communities will be transformed. She said she will use many platforms including social media. Every Wednesday Ms Ndlovu and her team host environmental related discussions on their WhatsApp group which has over 300 participants.
“Every Wednesday, we make it a point that we have climate or waste management related discussions with people on WhatsApp. On these discussions we invite guests who are either officials in the environmental sector or environmental activists who are well versed with what the environment is and the effects of environmental pollution,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She is not only investing her time on educating or communicating the message to the people but she is also putting into action what she preaches. Last Friday Ms Ndlovu and her team held a clean-up campaign where they partnered with several clubs at NUST. “Last Friday we held a clean-up campaign at NUST where we partnered with different clubs at the institution. I believe that for us to achieve the task, there is a need for a collective effort from everyone in society. This is why I partnered with clubs such as Enactus, Leo, NUST Got Talent and Young Life among others,” she said.
Ms Ndlovu said last Friday’s clean-up campaign was not the first for GreenZimbabwe. “We have also taken part in community clean-up campaigns including the Big spring cleaning week that was organised by the Bulawayo City Council to clean the city. We also attended the Mpilo Central Hospital clean-up campaign early this year,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She said she was also pushing or the banning of plastic bags and replacing these with biodegradable materials. “We are starting small with the hope that we will grow big and have a great impact in society when it comes to environmental issues. I am also hoping to educate at least 70 percent of the society so that they understand and know the consequences of open dumping, littering, deforestation, burning and other activities that are toxic to the environment,” said Ms Ndlovu. — @Sagepapie14.