Beach Cleanup

Beach cleaning. It's not something I did much of at home, but the situation here is such that it is difficult not to see the need for something to be done. I mean, I could sit and complain about it, but then I think, I am here to make some difference. Leaving this community just a little better than I found it. Last year I organized my own park clean up and one of the volunteers on my project was a young lady from Kiev named Olga. Her aunt lives here and Olga and her mom come to Razdol'noye every summer to vacation near the sea. Olga and I have kept in touch over the past year and I was happy to hear that she was returning to our town for the yearly rest. Her second night in town I got the invitation to dinner at her aunt's house. It was great to catch up with her and spend time talking about the work I have done in this town over the course of the past year. She never forgot the day her and her mom and two friends worked on my project in the park and asked me if I had any plans to do another clean up while she was in town so they could be involved. I admitted that I did not have any immediate plans, but that finding willing participants is one of my biggest hurdles, and that if she was willing to work, we could do something. After a little discussion, I suggested instead of a park clean up, but a "beach clean up"? She obviously loved the idea, and it didn't take me long to realize that if we worked on the beach in town, not only would we have a project, but I could ride my bike up there, and afterwards she could get some beach time in. It seemed like a win/win. There was also the added possibility that we would run into people I know and could at least create some awareness of the problem. Not that they don't know their beach has garbage on it, but I do sincerely enjoy the reaction of town people who see "the American" cleaning their beach and wonder out loud why we need foreigners to do a job we should be doing ourselves? (Although I have yet to see any of them actually offer to help or ask what they can do to further the cause). I met Olga as agreed and brought my leftover donated garbage bags and gloves to use. We each grabbed gloves and a bag and started policing the area. It didn't take long for me to start seeing people from town and as expected, they approached, first to say "hello", but then to ask what we were doing- even though it was pretty obvious! We worked for about two hours and filled two garbage bags, which might not sound like much, but since most of the garbage is actually cigarette butts, bottle caps, shards of glass, and food wrappers. Of course we also get the occasional bottle or other space taker in the bag, but mostly it is the small stuff. After we worked for about two hours, she decided to go into the sea and I headed home. A successful morning by any measure.

This week I was approached by a young lady at work who had been noticing my bike riding habits in that I ride around town during the week, but take considerably longer rides on the weekend. She asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride on Saturday. I agreed and we set a meeting place. The night before, it dawned on me that she might want to take a dip once we got up to the beach. I quickly threw some clean up stuff (bags and gloves) in my backpack as well as some extra water. We met as planned and I told her that I had brought my clean up stuff if she had planned to swim. We made the ride at a leisurely pace. Upon arrival I asked what her plan was. She said she would go to the water for maybe only five minutes. When she came back after getting her feet wet, she asked if I needed any help with cleaning up! I was thrilled and said, "sure" adding that we didn't have to stay too long, working together maybe a half hour was all we would need to fill one bag. It didn't take long, a few feet in fact, for us to start seeing trash that had been waiting for us to arrive. We policed the area, picking up more of the same: cigarette butts, bottle caps, (not so much glass today, thankfully), and assorted wrappers and other unsightly windstrewn garbage. At one point while working near a family, the older woman asked if I was a volunteer. I confirmed and she said I was doing an excellent job. She asked several questions (the usual things): where am I from, what am I doing here, etc. I even learned that her daughter speaks English and invited her to English Club. Soon after I ran into two more people I know from town. All seeing me cleaning their beach with one of my coworkers who also lives in Razdol'noye. These chance meetings were all part of my plan and starts to address the question, "why do we need foreigners to do a job we should be doing ourselves? The answer: because if it wasn't for me, this Ukrainian wouldn't be doing it...and today she did.

Olga and I after filling the dumpster with our collected garbage. (sincerely, one of the most interesting people I have met in this country)