Well-known Basil Brooks of North Side is not only a member of the Original Barbers of Anguilla, but is a young man of much civic responsibility and community engagement.
His love for Anguilla, its cleanliness and touristic appeal is such that, rather than going to church on Sunday, May 6, he spent part of the morning collecting quantities of dangerous debris from Hurricane Irma and piling it up along the main road for removal and disposal by himself if necessary. His continuing fear is that, if left alone in visible areas and in the bush, the debris will pose a menacing threat during the hurricane season commencing next month.
His voluntary work over for the day, Brooks, attired appropriately for his one-man clean-up campaign, drove to The Anguillian newspaper to complain about the debris waiting to be missiles if there is another hurricane.
“I want to tell you, Brother Nat, I love my country and when I am walking in the morning or driving around and see how dirty the place is, it worries me a lot,” he stated. “We cannot go into tourism with all the garbage at the side of the road after Hurricane Irma. We cleaned up months ago after the hurricane, but we are still not finished. When I walk to the Queen Elizabeth Avenue, below the Ronald Webster Park, and see the amount of galvanize and other garbage near the road, and in the bush, from the hurricane, it hurts my heart to see people driving there every day unconcerned. It is hurtful to know that we are seeing the debris and are not cleaning it up. We now have another hurricane season coming and we do not know what will happen to us.
“I saw the situation and said flatly to myself that I cannot depend on the Government alone to do the cleaning because it is my environment and I suppose to take care of it. So I decided to take off some time from 5.30 am to start cleaning up the area. Even my wife did not know where I was. I went all into the bushes and got cut up in the acacia trees removing galvanize and other objects. I did it because I want a cleaner environment for my children and your children and all of us that we can enjoy.”
Brooks continued: “I cleaned up on the Queen Elizabeth Avenue below the Ronald Webster Mausoleum and removed galvanise, buckets and boxes and wood that were there for months from since the hurricane. The garbage is there for the people at the Environment Unit to collect. Failing that, Brooks was prepared to use his own vehicle to take the debris to the Corito landfill. Two days later, it was gone.
“I would like for all Anguillians to do the same thing to clean-up the debris and garbage everywhere,” he stated. “You do not have to depend on Government to clean the sides of the road in your own village or in your backyard. You can take a garbage bag and just go and clean up the place because when an area is clean it looks good and everybody can enjoy a clean environment. My spirit is always about keeping the country clean. Anguilla is all we have.”
