Author: Linda Segbefia
The morning tide had only just receded when volunteers began arriving at Laboma Beach in Teshie, Greater Accra.
Equipped with gloves, bags, and tools provided for the exercise and fuelled by a strong sense of purpose they set to work.
By midday, more than 500 people, students, parents, advocates, and environmental champions were working side by side, united by a simple but powerful mission: to protect the ocean.
What followed was nothing short of inspiring. Plastics tangled in seaweed, discarded fabrics, bottles, broken wood, and other debris were collected, sorted, and hauled away.
By the end of the day, eight full truckloads of waste had been removed nearly 16 metric tons in total. But the impact of this effort stretched far beyond the shoreline. Every piece of plastic pulled from the sand is one less threat to marine life.
Every fabric scrap or wooden plank taken away reduces the strain on delicate coastal ecosystems. And every volunteer who spent their time cleaning is now a witness and advocate for environmental protection.
This is how local action connects to a global agenda.
World Clean-up Day isn’t just about tidying up beaches—it’s part of a broader movement aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 14: Life Below Water and Goal 15: Life on Land.
By reducing pollution and protecting natural habitats, communities like ours are contributing to the fight against climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.
For the families who brought their children, the clean-up was more than a civic duty—it was a chance to pass down a culture of care for the Earth.
For advocates, it was a moment where their voices turned into measurable action. And for all who participated, it was a reminder that protecting the environment is not the responsibility of a few, but the power of many.
On this World Cleanup Day, the beach became more than a shoreline. It became a symbol—of hope, of resilience, and of the role every community plays in the global journey toward a cleaner, healthier planet.
Special thanks to the Mayekoo Foundation for championing this exercise and mobilizing volunteers to create such a remarkable impact.
