The Year 9 started their week of learning outside the classroom with cleaning the Otara Creek Underpass on Te Irirangi Drive.
After learning about the topic ‘Ecology’ in Science, and ‘Caring for God’s Creation’ in Religious Education, we teamed up with the Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust with cleaning up the underpass, while also gathering service hours for the Mother Teresa Service Programme.
We started the day with a presentation about the clean-up and litter from Barbara, who works with the Trust. After the presentation, we got into groups of 12, and walked down to clean the underpass and the surrounding area. One group painted over graffiti on the walls and another removed moth pods from the side of the creek.
After three hours’ work (and an interval in the middle), it was time for lunch. We had just finished picking up trash in the bush on the side of Te Irirangi and we were starving.
The Trust offered us a burger lunch as a way of saying thank you to cleaning up the underpass and the surrounding area.
After lunch, we headed back to school to watch a documentary featuring David Attenborough about ecology and looking after our environment. We were all exhausted by then.
We would like to thank Mr Williamson and the Trust for giving us a memorable experience and teaching us how to take care of our environment.
Joshua Araos
