The Nedebe Foundation and a number of community stakeholders got their hands dirty as they spent their Saturday morning cleaning up the streets of Town Two.
They said through the initiative they wanted to encourage residents to take pride in and ownership of their communities.
But most importantly, they said they need to begin with small things such as restoring pride and dignity and urged the residents to make their communities a better place to live in.
The foundation’s Surika Gerber, said their key values and functions were to uplift and make a difference in the community.
Ms Gerber said through the clean-up they wanted to teach the youth and residents that environmental pollution impaired the environment and put lives at risk.
She said it was not pleasant to see a dirty community and the ywanted to create a beautiful and well-looked after neighbourhood. Ms Gerber said the youth were the future leaders, so it is important that they learned about the importance of keeping the environment clean.
She said the foundation also conducts a monthly clean-up in Somerset, but this was their first one in Khayelitsha.
“It is important to look after our planet we all share. Without the planet we won’t have a place to call home. And without youth, we wont have people to look after our planet.
“A lot of people think it is boring to clean up their communities but its’ not about that -it’s all about creating an environment that is not a health hazard to our lives. We want to raise awarenesses about cleaning the environment.
“I was very impressed with the turn-out and hope that this won’t be a once of thing,” she said.
Keith Somatini, chairperson of the Latitha Group, which runs after-school programmes for children, said such events were important as they created opportunities to teach the youth and community about the benefits of living in a clean society.
He said it was the first time that they had embarked on such an initiative which aimed to educate and make a difference.
He said he felt grateful to be among people who were making a change in the community.
South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) chairperson, Zimesele Yakobi, said such initiatives helped to educate the youth about the importance of looking after the environment and that he would like to see it happening every month.