NABAWAN TOILET LOOKS BETTER

By : ROZIE JUMAT

THE Environmental Action Centre (EAC) carried out their Toilet Cleanliness Campaign 2011 in Nabawan on Saturday after launching the program in May this year. This is the second town after Bingkor in this year’s campaign.

Headed by Nilakrisna James, who is a member of the EAC Management Group which comes within the purview of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, the campaign attracted many participants from the district including 31 youths who took part in the cleaning exercise of the public toilets in the Tamu grounds of Pekan Nabawan.

The youth groups were brought in by youth leaders Andy Jusit, leader of Persatuan Rangkatin Nabawan and holder of Sabah’s Tokoh Belia award; Somok Misin, Chairman of Belia Vulandai Sarikan and Juse Reoyston, Protem President of Pertubuhan Belia Dinamik Pedalaman, who coordinated the Nabawan programme with Helen Erut of the EAC Secretariat.

The campaign programme included a seminar on toilet cleanliness issues, a quiz and a cleaning exercise at a public toilet with all youths receiving their certificates of participation from the EAC.

“We were generally impressed with the overall cleanliness of Nabawan town and found that compared to many rural districts we’ve visited, the area is generally well-maintained and pleasing for tourism purposes. It is an exemplary town. The tamu ground is still quite filthy after use.

“However, they had an old man to do the cleaning of the public toilets although he needs to be briefed on the proper use of the right chemicals to get rid of black soiled marks on the bowls and the damaged sinks must be fixed by the authorities. Like most rural public toilets, the water issue is crucial and the authorities need to ensure that adequate water supply is provided,” Nilakrisna said in her statement.

She added that youths were briefed on the proper use of cleaning chemicals and safety procedures.

“We expect all our participants in the cleaning exercise to be properly attired with masks and gloves as the toilets can be extremely filthy and unhygienic with vermin and potential viruses that could be contagious or hazardous to our health. We will not compromise on the safety of our people and expect this campaign to inculcate international standards of hygiene and cleanliness for our target groups.”