WE CAN DO BETTER

I’ve always been a proud Swazi but I just never knew how much.

I’m proud because of the rich culture I grew up in, a culture of politeness, respect and a welcoming spirit. I live in a different part of the world now and I miss home the most when I’m on a bus (or any public space) and I hear nothing but awkward silence. There are no sounds of warm chats between complete strangers or sweet laughter between people who don’t know each other. However, in as much as I love my country, I’ve noticed that we can do better. In the past four years we started getting less rain to fill our dams and as a result we had a water crisis which caused, to name a few, fast spread of diseases and  many livestock deaths. Some were complaining as if they had been using water wisely for years. My argument is not about who is wrong or who is right; it’s about knowing that every action has a consequence and the more we value resources such as water, the less we will endure water and resource scarcity.

How can we do that? We are clever enough to drain water out of the ground and have high expectations that earth will give us what belongs to us. Long ago our grandfathers and great grandfathers would use this resource but never misused it the way we do nowadays. Is it possible that we have developed a culture of always taking and never giving back? Are we a most selfish generation which does not realise that we are killing our own bodies? In as much as we recycle 40 per cent of the water it’s not enough when factories are still washing their machines with dangerous chemicals, making it impossible to ever reuse that water. It’s not enough when we don’t actively educate and practice with our children in schools and at homes on saving water. It’s never enough when we leave water taps running for hours. So what can you do? It is simple things like reusing the water used to bath or wash and simply closing the tap when it’s not in use. A wise man once said; “Truly living is when you live your life to the fullest without compromising the life of future generations.” Let’s improve initiatives of saving our natural resources; maSwati lamahle, asifundzeni lokuhle kulabanye.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: