The shopkeepers of the old town who are preparing for the high season have observed first with distrust, then with curiosity mixed with a bit of guiltiness the crowd that was advancing coming from the Curio Market on the waterfront, all intent on cleaning the streets of the old town of Malindi and put the result of the separate collection in large bags that then ended up on the truck of the City. Many of them took refuge in their shop, others listened to the motivations of an exercise that is not an end in itself and in the end participated!
This is just one aspect of the ninth monthly edition of the Malindi Clean Up day, which was staged on Saturday 14 December.
Baptized by the participation of the Deputy Minister of Urban Development Charles Hinga and coordinated by the new Chief of Police (OPD) of Malindi, Vitalis Otieno, the day of cleaning and awareness gathered a people composed of the faithful of the Malindi Greenandblue movement, among which we like to mention the members of the Progress Welfare Association of Malindi Kate Mwikali (chairperson), Philip Chai, Sabina Vivaldi, Freddie del Curatolo, Effue Opyio, Maimuna Tsuma, Charity Bedulli as well as the head of the hoteliers of Kilifi County Maureen Awuor, from executives and officers of the Municipality, headed by the talented and passionate Lennox Mwangolo. Then there are the Police, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the environmentalists of local associations such as the Friends of Arabuko Sokoke Forest. But every time new residents, citizens, volunteers, even tourists join, as well as groups of young people, such as in this case the boys of Imani Children's Home. Every month the Malindi Clean Up Day has a theme and a community to raise awareness of the separate collection and cleaning of their environment: this time it was the turn of the operators of the Curio Market, the local craft market for tourists on the waterfront. Their association took part in and followed the event up to the Malindi market, where the fruit and vegetable sellers also responded positively to the solicitation of the Malindi Greenandblue movement. The last event of 2019 confirmed the goodness of an initiative that will continue and will try to involve even those who, like those shopkeepers, have not yet understood the motto "Our Town, our responsibility".