Trash-a-thon = SUCCESS!!

On the 5th of December, my Photo J. class put into motion our trash-a-thon  "downtown" Weno. Locals commented/thanked us, giving my students the encouragement and confidence in their ability to make a difference. Everyone had fun, nobody got hurt, and Chuuk is hopefully inspired to think twice about throwing their trash on the ground.

Mr. Carl also came down and helped pick up trash. The students LOVED that. In addition, he gave us a task to paint the bridge "while we're down". Painting the bridge means painting 2 bridges, (6 hours of painting)... all 35-ish of us...with the 3 small brushes we were given...in the sun... without sun screen... probably not the most thought out plan of action.

I'm hoping that the bridges didn't take away from the student's idea that a "trash-a-thon" can be fun, and steer them away from participating again in the future. (but hey, the bridges look great.) Going down for only the trash-a-thon would have lasted 3 hours, but with the additional 6, they were desperate to go home.

I drove by the bridges again today, (a week later,) and still no graffiti. I'm impressed. I don't want to speak too soon, but all those "badass" graffiti rebels aren't really that rebellious. Even they can appreciate how much better it looks without blemishes. It just goes to show that the local Chuukese have good hearts, no matter how "badass" they want to be.