Rubbish Cruisade

Rubbish is a huge problem in the UAE. The Emirati people don’t seem to care. They just biff their rubbish out of their cars onto the road etc knowing that the little Indian Parkistani laborers’ will come along with the bin liners and clear it all away. With that philosophy and attitude from the adults, the students also have a don’t care less attitude. All Emirati home have house maids. At school we have cleaners / maids who do all the tiding up, so why would you bother dealing with rubbish when there is someone else to take care of the problem for you. For a while now I have been horrified at the food related rubbish just left where the girls sit at break time to take food. At the end of break the Pilipino maids come by and clean it all up. Last Tuesday our big court yard and stairways were just a mess. The teachers on duty all stand well back in the shade of course and do nothing, so I have adopted a name and shame campaign, as well as catching them when they are good.
On Thursday at break time I went down to the court yard armed with my camera and grabbed one of the wheelie bins. I wheeled along to the first group of students where discarded rolls had been thrown away, asking “who does this food belong to?”. I then took photos of the offenders……. It didn’t take long for the students to catch on, some were horrified that I was taking their photos. Please note the little ball of lard with the indignant face. The girls who I saw putting rubbish in the bin, I thanked them , shock their hands praised them and also took their photos. Some students got in on the act, walking around with gloves, bins and bin liners dealing to the rubbish. I made the maids/ cleaners sit down for 5 minutes, because they have been in the habit of walking around with the bin liners picking up the rubbish off the ground literally seconds after its been discarded, which only encourages the girls to throw it all on the ground.
Today I was out again, however the duty teachers were also quite supportive and encouraging in their own right, getting the girls to clean up. They didn’t realize I was on a one man campaign to stamp out rubbish in the UAE. There was less biffing of rubbish, and more students making the effort to bin their surplus and left overs, and other students generally being helpful. However an element still sit and throw waste over their shoulders. When asked they too indignantly picked up their leftovers and dealt to them. 2 cleaners actually thanked me.
Will I make a difference? I don’t think so. I will in the short term but long term, not when the adult role models don’t care, but that’s not stopping me trying in the meantime. I want the students to take responsibility for some of their actions even though I’m also battling an ingrained class system.