Creating ripples

Updated on: Monday, April 11, 2011

When the elders turn a blind eye, children come out and make a difference. Meet Sarojini Sarada, a class IX student of Government Girls High School, Cuttack, Orissa, whose pond restoration mission earned her the top prize at the annual Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards, a youth volunteer recognition programme, held in the Capital recently.

Sarada used to pass by the pond everyday, which had been turned into a dump yard, by the locals and the villagers living nearby. The dismal state of the pond prompted her to do something about it.

"My school headmistress and teachers often discussed about the pond, which was full of weeds. We know that water is vital to the eco-system and that clean water is scarce. So, we decided to work towards preserving and conserving water in the pond to keep the biodiversity intact," said Sarada.

She roped in few of her classmates for this mission and all five of them volunteered to generate awareness about the need for cleaning the ponds. They urged the villagers to join the cause. "We wanted to use the pond as a fish farm and so we took out a rally to spread awareness among the locals about the same," she added.

Every week, Sarada and her friends would devote two hours in the pond to pull out weeds manually and in three days the pond was cleaned. "Pulling the weeds out of the pond manually was very hard because there were so many of them. We used long bamboo sticks in the cleaning process. We also had to use a small boat to pull out weeds from the middle of the pond," said Sarada.

The pond water had to be treated first because it had become acidic. "A representative from the fishery department told the locals how to treat the water through lime. The lime treatment took another four days after which we put in a few fish to see if they would survive. The baby fish were released in the water in three installments and today we have about a 1,000 kg fish in these ponds, something which I never even thought of," she stated.

Sarada informed that initially the villagers were hesitant to join them but when they knew about the excellent business opportunity in store, they all agreed. The villagers then took up fish farming for addon income. "The first time the locals caught fish from the pond, they wanted to share the fish with us but the school refused. Now they are selling the fish in the market and reaping the benefits," she said.

Sarada now wants to dedicate herself towards saving the environment by coming up with more sustainable initiatives for its protection. "Through the work I did, I could bring about a positive change in the attitude of the people. I learnt that community service can make a big difference to our society," she concluded.

Times of India

Creating ripples

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