The Project 90 river clean up team
A very dedicated team of Project 90 staff braved the wind and rain yesterday to celebrate Mandela day and Project 90’s 7th birthday. In what was possibly one of the most stormy and windy days Cape Town has seen this Winter, 15 Project 90 staff, decked out in wellington boots, old jeans, rain jackets and gloves trudged through the mud on the banks of the Liesbeek River picking up litter. That may seems like a strange way to have a birthday party – but we then celebrated in the more traditional way, by having coffee and cake afterwards in a local coffee shop in Lower Main Road, Observatory.
We arrived at the river, rain pouring down, icy streams of water trickling down our necks as we waded through the torrents of water picking up plastic, chip packets and coke bottles.
Blessing and Edgar hard at work
Despite the terrible conditions, we managed to collect many bags of litter, some old mattresses and a broken suitcase.
We hope that we have been able to make a small impact on the state of the Liesbeek River. For us, this was the perfect way to commemorate Mandela Day and celebrate our organization’s birthday. In President Zuma’s State of the Nation address earlier this year, he encouraged South Africans to dedicate their 67 minutes on Mandela Day to clean South Africa and beautify every part of our country.
Even the pouring rain did not put us off!
We had fun afterwards, warming ourselves with hot chocolate and cake at Queen of Tarts. Happy 7th birthday Project 90 – here’s to 7 more!
Olivia Andrews – Operations Manager
Project 90 by 2030 