In their efforts to promote a clean and healthy environment, Denkula Kafo, a women voluntary organization in Touba Wuli, URR North recently embarked on a massive cleansing exercise.
The exercise which lasted for several hours saw the participation of volunteers cleaning in and around the village.
Speaking after the exercise, Mrs. Tida Fatty, President of Denkula Women Kafo thanked the members for coming out in their large numbers to clean the village especially public places. She disclosed that they were not paid to do the job but instead see it as a responsibility to clean the village regularly and help manage their waste.
“As a voluntary organization, we have been involved in many community development activities including climate change mitigation actions,” she said.
According to her, they attended some climate change workshops in the past and were informed about its effects on people and the environment.
“We were tasked to always take local actions to mitigate the effects of climate change such as waste management and this clean-up exercise keeps us to collect and manage our waste well,” she added.
According to her, during the rainy season they planted many trees in the village and are happy that some of them have survived.
Mrs. Fatty used the occasion to call for gender mainstreaming in climate change mitigation and adaptation in the country. “As women, we need to be also supported and actively involved in climate change projects and programs in The Gambia. We need tools such as rakes and wheelbarrows. We are vulnerable and yet we lack the necessary support in our efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change on us,” she emphasized.
The local women leader also commended President Adama Barrow for bringing back the set-settal, noting that a clean nation will be a wealthy nation.
Meanwhile, the village clean-up exercise ended up with a massive cultural event in the village that also lasted late in the night.
