Africa University continues to lead in environmental awareness and conservation initiatives
3 May 2019
Story by:
Tapiwanashe Haukozi
OAPA Student Ambassador
On the 3rd of May 2019, Africa University successfully conducted its fourth clean-up campaign of the year led by the university’s Library and IT Departments. The initiative was started by Dr Zanele Furusa who is a Head Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Studies and an advocate for environmental protection and awareness. Through her continued guidance, the program has continued to flourish with the spirit of volunteerism steadily gaining momentum amongst the university’s student body and staff.
In 2018, numerous campaigns were conducted in collaboration with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), alongside workshops and seminars that sought to initiate dialogue on the role that each individual, organization and community has to play.
On the side-lines of the campaign, an intern at the university’s Innovation Hub, Trish Ngarize, indicated that she had been attending the clean-up campaign since its inception in February 2019, her feelings on the campaign were as follows,
“I enjoy the clean-up campaign as it gets everyone involved in taking care of the environment, including the people in the tech side of things which shows that it is a joint effort. The students will be motivated to take part in future campaigns if they see other people especially staff, taking the time to leave their offices to do the work. The campaign reflects the care we have for the changing global climate and saving the environment.”
We also spoke to Mr T. Madondoro who has participated three times. He said,
“This is inspiring! Cleanliness begins in the homes of each of us and as we consider AU a second home, this culture that we are ingraining within our youth shall surely go a long way. The clean-up campaigns make you have a sense of duty to keep the environment clean and can inspire a country wide culture of cleaning.”
Africa University continues to have great support systems and mechanisms that continue to encourage stewardship of the environment in which we reside. The clean-up campaigns held on the first Friday of each new month are part of the 5 Point Environmental Strategy that is aimed at raising awareness through outreach regarding the protection of the environment in surrounding communities, instilling discipline and stewardship of the environment, education, increasing the amount of waste that is recycled within the campus and without and finally supporting the concept of business enterprise from the waste that is disposed of daily within our communities, offering a new outlook on the items we normally would consider “trash”.
The AU community remains keen and eager to continue this project as it ensures the cleanliness of our environment and encourages us all to fulfil our duty in keeping our spaces clean.