The biggest contribution I have made in my community by Nashe

The biggest contribution I have made in my community by Nashe - January 2024 Scholarship Essay

Coming from a third world country there are obviously so many things that are vastly different at home as compared to here in the US. Diverse cultures, standards, and tolerance for many different things. The country that I come from is called Zimbabwe it is in central southern Africa, there is a major issue regarding trash. Many people throw away bottles, plastics, and packages that they purchase from restaurants and stores. Passing by properties and just throwing them out of the car window is the norm in my country. It is not something to be proud of, but a substantial portion of the population is not educated on how detrimental it is to the environment around us.

A habitat that was particularly affected negatively by this was called Mukuvisi Woodlands, an area within the city of Harare that has a wide variety of wild animals and used for recreational services and is a tourist attraction. In 2022, some of us students from my high school went to pick up the trash present in and along the river that runs through the woodlands. We spent hours looking for many things such as bottles of cough syrup, fast food restaurant packages, plastic bottles and more. I would not say that it was the most "fun" experience ever, however it was very eye opening.

From this experience I had a newfound respect for the environment and awareness of what us as [people are doing. Not only was this just making our environment look less appealing but also putting the animals at risk. A large amount of trash would make its way to the river which was the main source of water for the animals that were living there. Park rangers would try their hardest but they would also be burdened with other work so the trash would accumulate. We were even told that the contribution that we had made and all those hours we had spent was one of the biggest they had in the past few years.