Thank goodness for the people of the GAB Foundation! If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be having another river clean-up this year. It's good to know that there are people and companies out there who make an effort to want to do their bit for the environment and JD and I were very honoured to be invited to be a part of the River Carnival.
We turned up at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungei Way, pleasantly surprised to see the number of people who had turned up in support of this event. GAB Foundation had lots planned for that day : mural painting, story-telling, a river hunt treasure hunt, nature craft and we even got a chance to introduce the adorable contestants for the Green Dress contest..
All the items that they had on had to be recyclable material and the most creative one would of course win. They were all younger than 10 years old and were all cute in their green outfits but were also very shy when we tried to interview them on stage.
Soon after the little green fashion show, it was time to put on our yellow Pua Chu Kang boots, gloves and get down and dirty....
It wasn't quite the "river" image that we had in mind because the river had been turned into a storm drain so it was easy to just climb in and clean up around the area. It wasn't as bad as some places because the residents of Sungei Way have been actively cleaning up and doing their part to rehabilitate the river with positive results. We need more proactive people like them in the world!
While JD was upstream and I was raking up leaves and stuff, I heard him yell "Dil!! Heads up! Plastic bag coming your way!" so I got ready to scoop out what looked like a black plastic bag. But as the "bag" got closer, I found myself thinking "Why does that bag look like it's got FUR???". To my absolute disgust, when I realised that what I was staring at wasn't at ALL a black, plastic bag, I yelled to JD "THAT'S NOT A PLASTIC BAG!!! IT'S A DEAD, BLOATED RAT!!!!" Ugh!!!!!!!!!
I let the once live thing float away down the water (shiver!) but I unfortunately I came across it again when I went to clean up the area further down! And this time round, it had turned around in the water till all four of it's pink legs were sticking up!!! Needless to say I screamed again, lor. CRINGE!!!!!!!
Aside from that unfortunate little incident, I rather enjoyed myself at the River Carnival. I even ordered ice-cream and ate at the school canteen - boy! Was THAT a nostalgic trip down memory lane! It was a great day out for kids and family members and a wonderful initiative by GAB Foundation to instill the right attitude in the public to learn and care about the environment, particularly our rivers. I hope to see and hear more of these rehab efforts going around and certainly would love to be a part of it again!
