Jermaine Houkamau is on a rubbish crusade, fuelled by the collection of tyres, cans and even a fridge that he has picked up from the local riverbed and trails.
He has only been living in the region for a few weeks, but when he began walking the tracks beside the Waimea River, he was so horrified by the amount of rubbish dumped in the area that he decided to do something about it.
Since then, he and his auntie have taken several ute-loads of rubbish to the refuse centre and he has piled bigger items like tyres, fridge and plastic pool together, then sent the GPS coordinates of the pile to the council.
“Every day I found something new and I was just over it, so decided to pick it up myself. One day it took about three hours by myself to pile some of it up for the council to pick up.
“I even had to drag a fridge to make it easier for the council to pick up and there was a nappy in the fridge,” he says.
“Then one day I fell in the water trying to get an old pool out of the water – in my $85 new crocs!”
His frustration with the rubbish and those dumping it led him to post his rubbish collections on Facebook in a bid to rally the community to pick it up and stop others dumping it.
“We have a beautiful country and we should respect her. She’s in pain,” he says.
“I’m over those clowns doing this and they shouldn’t be getting away with it. I know a lot of it is younger dudes, young and dumb and having a party and just disrespecting the land.
“Then there’s people changing their oil down there – blokes being blokes and leaving their drinks behind.”
He says it baffles him that people leave rubbish behind or purposefully go and dump rubbish, especially when it is not a money issue for those who buy the alcohol to consume on the riverbed first.
While there is frustration at finding the rubbish, Jermaine says clearing the rubbish away has been good for his wairua (spirit).
“It’s a good feeling cleaning mother earth and then good things have been happening to me.”
He intends to keep picking up rubbish beside the river but hopes the community will also get involved with clearing the area of rubbish and discouraging those who think it is okay to dump it.
He will be doing his part by politely telling people to pick up their rubbish if he sees them in the act.
Over the years he has often told people to pick up their rubbish and says they usually oblige.
“You can only do your part and if everyone did their part, it would be a better place.”
