A love for the environment

ONLINE voting begins today for the The Courts Heroes Initiative which seeks to recognise “the selfless giving and work" of the people who are making a difference in the lives of others.

Eight finalists have been selected from an initial 30 nominees for their contributions to society. Today we feature Neil Sookram whose For the Love of the Environment group has been active in the cleanup of the wetlands in Cedros.

Neil Sookram, 42, has always been passionate about the environment. In fact, it was a part of him growing up. He remembers catching crab in the mangrove as part of his childhood. He also loved being out in the wetlands at his Icacos Village, Cedros home.

Neil Sookram

And for Sookram the area is always “something to behold.” It is an area, he added, where one can easily catch glimpses and even take a selfie with TT’s national bird, the Scarlet Ibis as they are in close proximity of the roadside.

So when he saw the area being littered with garbage, Sookram felt it was his responsibility to do something about it.

Like many of the heroes often talked about in mythology, he organised a cleanup campaign of the area’s wetlands.

His efforts have earned him a place as a finalist in the Courts Heroes Initiative.

Sookram’s 35 member group is called For the Love of the Environment and is a voluntary group.

In a phone interview with Newsday, Sookram said it is “a group of people of like minds who have a love for the environment.”

Describing how the campaign came about, he said, “The area that I live in Icacos Village, Cedros is partially surrounded by wetlands. Sometime ago in Cedros there used to be a dump. Recently that dump started to become like an eyesore.”

Upon entering Cedros, he said, the dump was the first thing that one would see.

People, he said, came together and had protests and eventually the dump was removed. But people continued to litter the area. That was when he and his friend Ken Boodram decided to organise a cleanup campaign.

Sookram and his cousin, Robert Cozier did an assessment of the area before to see how much garbage there was, the type of garbage and if there were any risk or hazards in going about the cleanup campaign.

That campaign took place in April and the low waters in the wetland during the dry season provided the perfect opportunity for the cleanup campaign to occur.

Sookram along with some members mobilised resources from the local hardware. The support, he received was “overwhelming.”

He added there was a turnout of about 75 people in the first clean-up and everyone was asked to wear green and like the group’s Facebook page, where people were educated about the importance of the wetlands and the dangers of plastic.

For the Love of the Environment has 35 solid members and the others are volunteers.

Its first cleanup saw 75 people participating and another occurred, he said, around two weeks after the first.

“It was like we clean the lagoon today and the next two weeks we do another cleanup again.”

The cleanup saw participation from a lot of groups including Scouts. It made him happy to see a lot of children participating. On the day, Sookram and his members even gave out flyers on the importance of the wetlands to the passersby.

The cleanup he said went on for about three to four hours.

“It turned out to be a really nice day. The end result was to know that you did something good within.”

Through Sookram’s efforts, everyone, he said, became like a “little citizen police.”

People, he added, would then look out to see if anyone was throwing garbage along the area. The group, however, is not a registered one but there have been suggesting that they do so.

“I know when you register a group, you have to have meetings on a regular basis...it might be an opportunity. It has its advantages and disadvantages. We might be able to get more funding from other NGOs and stuff like that,” he said.

Although he was one of the thousands of workers laid off with Petrotrin’s closure, Sookram took the time to do something he believes is important. He currently does odd jobs. The marine worker who goes offshore when he can has to be out at sea sometimes and so that poses a challenge to weekly meetings being held.

“But it is (registering as a group) something we might be considering in the near future,” Sookram said.

He also said they were trying to do a coastal cleanup campaign at Columbus Bay but it did not work out as it should.

While his efforts were supported by his family and neighbours there were some villagers who claimed that he was looking for a little fame but he remained unfazed by those comments.

He said, “Some of those people who made the comments are probably not aware of the good in something like that. It is an area we all look forward to.”

He added that people from the other villages participated as well. And people who would have heard about it via social media like Facebook are eager to be a part of the next campaign, Sookram said.

Asked how he came to be nominated for the Courts Heroes Initiative, Sookram said he has a WhatsApp group of about 35 to 30 members and some of the members nominated him without him knowing.

“When I came to know about it is when I got a call from Courts, Unicomer and she told me I was nominated.”

He added that he was shocked to learn of his nomination.

Sookram tries to have the campaigns when school is out to get the participation of the area’s children to “create that awareness in them at a youthful age.”

He hopes to lobby for the area’s wetland to become a protected space as he sees its potential for ecotourism.

To vote for this nominee, visit:
https://unicomercourtscaribbean.wishpond.com/courtsheroes/

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