TAKING UP THE CHALLENGE
Father and son making world cleaner
One man is doing his part to help Mother Nature by keeping things tidy and he is encouraging others to do the same.
Kamao Cappo, who lives on the Muscowpetung Sauteaux First Nation located about 40 minutes northwest of Regina in the Qu’Appelle Valley, travels Saskatchewan roads frequently. It has bothered him to see garbage callously tossed out on the side of the road.
Rather than just sit idly by and watch debris collect, he decided to do something about it.
It is something Cappo has been doing most of his adult life, but he never wanted anyone to see him do it because he was embarrassed.
A few months ago, he changed his attitude about it.
In February, Cappo launched what he calls the indigenous challenge.
He turned to social media to get his message out and in a five-minute Facebook video, he explains what the challenge is and why he is doing it.
Cappo said he would get an “ugly feeling” when he would see garbage on the roadside.
“Sometimes I would just leave it and ignore it like everyone else, but I still got that feeling,” he said. “I would go back and pick it up, then I noticed (I would get) a nice feeling after it was clean.”
Cappo said it can be a daunting task for one person, especially those times when he stops and sees all the garbage in a ditch.
“Just by yourself, you think, ‘This is futile. What does it mean if I pick up this piece of garbage, when there are a million more spots?’,” he said. “Then you realize, with Facebook, you can help others come out and just do it.”
Cappo says if you had 1,000 people each picking up 10 pieces of garbage then there would be no more garbage.
That’s when he decided to challenge all indigenous people to do their part.
“We are always talking about Mother Nature and how we have to respect Mother Nature and this a way to put it into concrete action,” said Cappo. “If anyone else wants to take up the challenge then they are welcome to do so.”
He said safety is first and foremost and to stop and pick up garbage only when it is safe to do so and always carry garbage bags and gloves because it can get messy.
Many times his son Haydar is with his dad and is accustomed to the frequent stops.
“If we are in a hurry, I just jump out and do it because it’s faster that way,” he said.
Haydar admits sometimes it is an inconvenience, but also knows it’s all about doing something positive.
Although his dad is not sure whether or not his son will do it on his own once he grows up, he says what he wants to teach him is to be proactive in everything he does and if he’s not happy with something then do something about it.
We are always talking about Mother Nature and how we have to respect Mother Nature and this a way to put it into concrete action.