6 comments so far.30 people with five dogs collect 32 bags of recycling on Gozo hike
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Sunday afternoon saw another great turnout for the Gozo ‘hike and clean-up’organised by Louis Debattista. Louis said that he almost cancelled Sunday’s hike because the weather in the morning wasn’t that good, but he was so glad he didn’t, when this time 16 kids and 14 adults arrived to volunteer for the afternoon.
He said that parts of the hike were tough but everyone did well. “We started from Qala Local Council and walked down to Hondoq along the coast. One nice thing was that where we walked the same 1K route that we cleaned 2 weeks ago, there wasn’t any new rubbish!”
“Everyone’s bags were still empty until we came to the end of that first 1 km, where we then picked up 7 bags of trash, most of it recyclable. Total bags of rubbish/recycling from Sunday’s hike was 32.”
This weekend’s hike took 4 hours and of course everyone was tired by the end of it. “Tired but not discouraged!” Louis said, “It made me happy to see the kids with all their energy and enthusiasm, working hard to make things better. 
“It was also nice to see new faces on Sunday: The owners of AquaSports in Marsalforn joined us with their 2 children age 10 and 6, and their dog, David. We also had a nice surprise, as Prof. Arnold Cassola, Chairman of the Green Party, who came over from Malta, and Mr. Angelo Bartolo, founder of the Green party in Gozo, along with David Camilleri, who both from Gharb, all joined us on the hike.”
Louis said that following the hike David Camilleri was kind enough to go back and help him collect 18 bags of rubbish that they had left at one of the beaches at the back of Qala. 
There was also an American family of three, with their parents who are on vacation in Gozo for two weeks. Louis said that “this lovely couple, in their seventies, from Florida, joined us on the hike and helped us clean up our beautiful island. Thank you!”
So, Sunday afternoon’s hike saw 30 people with five dogs and 32 bags of recycling collected!
Louis thanked everyone for their hard work; “I really thank you and I hope to see you more of you on these Sunday hikes. I promise next week’s hike will be a bit easier! Thank you for being with us and I hope the message gets sent out there that we all need to work together, to stop being selfish, and to stop littering. Thank you America for being part of this clean-up hike! We all can make a big difference. We are all in God’s hands and can work together to take care of God’s creation, our environment.”
Louis also thanked the Qala Local Council for providing them with the materials (gloves, bags, wipes).
“From now on all the hikes will be at 1.00pm on Sundays. The next one will be, this comig Sunday, the 26th of January 26th, (weather permitting) starting by the Qala Local Council. This time we will be heading to Ix-Xatt l-Ahmar and to Mgarr ix-Xini, I am also working to get transport back form Mgarr ix-Xini,” Louis said.
For further information please contact Louis through the Gozo-Greyhounds facebook page, or email him on louismalti@aol.com.
Well done to the Gozo-Greyhounds and all involved in these clean-ups especially the kids. Hopefully this sort of exercise will give them an appreciation for the environment and Gozo in the years to come will be a cleaner island.
Congratulations to Gozo – Greyhounds for the good job you doing for Gozo Island .I feel very proud of you all ,when I read about you from far away about you All .. No Government can do as a good job as you doing . PS .. people like you should be on the News Paper Head Lines , So others can learn from you on the ENVIRONMENT .. PROSIT TO YOU ALL …………………………………..Walter
I am glad that Prop. Arnold Cassola Chairman of AD-Partit Ahdar Malta who was visiting Ghawdex and Mr. Angelo Bartolo of Gharb founder of AD-Green Party in Ghawdex joined us at a spur of the moment for the cleanup/hike. Thank you so much for making Ghawdex a better home for us.
With out all this kids & parents involve I would not have done it by my self, it will take a long time. Thank you for your support you are doing a part as well. I wish more NGO can help out but I have not seen anyone. And please I hope they would not say I have not asked them because I have. I have because i am doing what everyone else should be doing so they can join us like other people did. Its going to be a long journey but we get there a lot of work to keep 2014 Gozo free of Trash and keep it Clean & Green. We need more help from Local Council, from the Gozo Ministry to give us hope to reach our destiny. We all start from Qala but I am asking to get transport from Qala to the locations to be able to do the entire Gozo section by section and then bring the group back to Qala. I went to 5 local Councils to hope to see if they can provide Transport and to give the message to people and kids to join us and keep this journey going. I hope that comes true. Thank you from the Clean & Green Gozo Rocks.
Prosit to Gozo Greyhound, Louis, parents and …especially all the children. You make your country proud.
Well done again let’s hope Gozo do not have to rely on children to clear up adult rubbish ongoing.
It’s a credit to the greyhound youth athletic club to get involved because the council don’t seem to care.