Hat Off, UNMIL Sector 1

 

 

Forum
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

PostedSeptember 19, 2006

 

YESTERDAY, IN COMMEMORATION of the International Day of Peace, formally set aside by the United Nations General Assembly to be observed in September each year, members of Sector 1 serving in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), launched a clean-up campaign in the Redlight Market area in order to rid the place of filth.

WE WANT TO commend the peacekeepers for this laudable venture; because if one were to take a tour of the City of Monrovia and its environs, you would see that it is not only Redlight but other communities have also been swallowed with huge pile of garbage, exposing residents to serious health hazards.

WHAT IS APPALLING is that you see both marketers and the residents interacting with ease in these filthy places. They carry on their normal trading, ranging from hard wares to food stuff in the dirt, having no second thought that prevention is better than cure.

WE WANT TO concur with what the Sector 1 Acting Commander, Col. T.K. Golau, said that the importance of their participation in the clean-up exercise was not only to lead in the clean-up campaign but encourage Liberians inculcate the habit of sanitizing their environments on regular basis.

WE BELIEVE THAT the urge made by the UN Colonel to Liberians is relevant and needs to be taken seriously. Liberians need to graduate from the syndrome of “government do-it- all for us.” We, as Liberians, must be willing to pay heed to the peacekeepers’ message that their presence here is not only for peacekeeping but for us to learn from them how we can properly maintain our environments to suit sanitary condition of our time.

LIBERIANS, ESPECIALLY THOSE in the city, should begin to sensitize their kinsmen to do periodic cleaning in their various localities to dispose off millions of pounds of garbage smelling right in their nose every day. For too long, we profess to be God-fearing people but what goes along with this faith is that “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Can we take up this challenge by keeping our environment clean in conformity to our ardent faith as Christians?

AS WE SAY “Hat Off” to UNMIL Sector 1, we want to urge our compatriots residing in the Redlight area to join UNMIL in this clean-up endeavor to clean the market and its surroundings so that the serenity and aura of peace can be felt in their midst.

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