Huyền Trang

Members of Green Bình Dương group clean up a canal in Bình Dương Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Huyền Trang

BÌNH DƯƠNG — A group of young migrant workers in recent months has volunteered to clean up many landfills and polluted canals in southern Bình Dương Province.

With a desire to "repay" the province for giving them jobs, the volunteer group called Green Bình Dương cleaned nearly 10 polluted canals and garbage dumps after more than three months of operation, contributing to build a greener and cleaner Bình Dương Province.

Black, stinky canals full of garbage and overgrown grass have become greener and cleaner under the cleanup of the group of young people.

Over the past three months, the journey of "changing colour" of polluted canal water by Green Bình Dương has spread the awareness of environmental protection to many local people.

Initially, there were two members - Đoàn Văn Tố from northern Thanh Hoá Province and Nguyễn Trọng Đức from the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province of Đắk Nông. Now, Green Bình Dương has more than 100 people, most of whom are workers from other provinces coming to Bình Dương to work.

After several years of settling down in Bình Dương Province, Tố, 36 and Đức, 32, always thought about doing something useful to make the province, their second hometown, more beautiful.

“I thought cleaning up was a job that not everyone dares to do without payment, so I chose this work as a way to protect the green environment,” said Tố.

Meanwhile, Đức said: "I have to be responsible for, and protect and preserve the environment. When I saw ‘dead’ canals, I wanted to work on cleaning the canals, contributing a small part of my energy to improve the environment.”

At the beginning of the garbage and trash collection, Tố and Đức cleaned up the area of ​​Phú Chánh neighborhood in Hoà Phú Ward of Thủ Dầu Một city.

After a while, the two men’s work spread the spirit of environmental protection to many other migrant workers in the province.

Đoàn Văn Tố, founder of Green Bình Dương group, is collecting garbage in a canal. — VNA/VNS Photo

Up to now, the group has more than 100 members, of which more than 50 per cent are female.

"Group members are workers from other provinces and cities who came to Bình Dương to work and live,” said Tố.

“After the end of their working shift, they continue the "zero-wage job" of removing garbage in the polluted canals,” he said.

“We usually do the cleaning work on every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 13:30 to the evening,” he added.

Soaking in the black, stinky water with thick mud and garbage is a very difficult job, even dangerous because in that black water contains all kinds of household waste, needles, glass bottles, even animal carcasses.

There are sections of water deeper than 1m where the collection is more difficult, the steps are heavier, and the black mud splashes all over the garbage collectors.

But these difficulties do not stop the team's working spirit, still determined to perform, without a word of complaint.

"I usually participate in the clean-up activity after my work. Under the canals, there were many things such as needles, pieces of earthenware and animal carcasses, so I was scared at first,” said Trần Gia Hân, a 20-year-old member.

“After a few times doing the work together with everyone, the fear has disappeared and I try to work with the group to clean up the canals, spreading the spirit of environmental protection to everyone," Hân said.

"Many young people in the group work hard. What I worry about when working in the canals is that there is not only garbage but also iron bars and disease-infected needles,” Tố said.

The weather in Bình Dương in the summer days was extremely hot, but the young people of Green Bình Dương group are still not afraid to “dive” under the thick, black, stinky canals covered with garbage to clean them up.

"In canals with little trash, it takes one day to clean up. But there are canals we had to spend 15 sessions to clear all the garbage,” Tố said.

"The smell of canal garbage lingers on the body for a long time. Even taking a bath, the fingernails, toenails and the whole body still smell. Many times, members of the group bleed because they bumped into sharp objects," he said.

Nguyễn Thị Minh, a resident in Chung neighbourhood of Vĩnh Phú Ward, said she has lived near the Vĩnh Phú canal for more than 10 years.

The canal was seriously polluted because the residents and workshops discharge waste and waste water to the canal. Every year, local authorities still dredge the canal, but the manpower is not sufficient enough to solve the problem.

In the last three months, young people of Green Bình Dương group removed garbage, trimmed trees and cleared the canal flow. They are very welcomed and supported, she said.

“We are very touched by the young people who spent their leisure time after work to come here to clean up the trash for the health of the community,” Minh said.

Trần Ngọc Hưng, vice chairman of Vĩnh Phú Ward, said that the group operates on a voluntary basis, so the ward's People's Committee offers free tetanus vaccinations and food support for members.

In the coming time, the ward wants the group to continue supporting the locality to enhance environmental protection activities, Hưng said.

The ward will mobilise benefactors to sponsor protective equipment and encouragement gifts for the group, he said.

Not only clean the canals in Bình Dương Province, but the group also wants to co-operate with the Green Sài Gòn group of HCM City to dredge canals in the areas adjacent of HCM City and Bình Dương Province.

The group also looks for benefactors to open more "zero-đồng kitchens" and "zero-đồng buses" to help those who have left their home provinces to come to Binh Duong to start a business, Tố said. — VNS