Condoms, litter, and the environment

This morning I walked to Lime Tree for my weekly plate of eggs and hot peppers. As soon as I bought the weekly Reporter and sat down, but luckily before I ordered, some workers started a compressor that sounded like a jackhammer. They were air-cleaning a food case of some kind. As I beat a hasty retreat, three waiters were having an argument with the lead workman. They were gesticulating vigorously towards the customers who were mostly packing up to leave. The work crew leader had his arms folded across his chest and his chin thrust out in an expression that said he had a job to do and was going to finish it, by God.

With growling belly I walked further down the street to Kaldi's and had a mercifully quiet breakfast of a cheese omelette and toast.

On the way back home I saw, amid the litter, the frequent sight of blue 'Sensation' and red 'Trust' condom boxes, wrappers, and the used condoms themselves. One sees these all over the back streets of my neighborhood. I didn't know how to react. As someone who works in HIV/AIDS prevention, I was happy that people are using condoms. As an environmentalist, I was sorry to see more cardboard, plastic, and latex in the soil. As a citizen of Addis Ababa, I was disgusted to see yet more litter casually thrown on our streets.

Comments

[reader]

I think the City and schools should do a better job educating the responsibility of of the citizen that they should not throw grabage out the window of the car or casually drop litter off the side of the streets.