[singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] Lambasa. >> I um I'm very honored to be here today. especially on such a beautiful sunny day after all the rain we've been having in the last few weeks especially leading up to the hibiscus festival in uh Sula and uh the the rugby that's happening around the country which I'm very heavily invested in as the president for Kandavo rugby and our women's team are actually coming to Lombasa tomorrow they will be meeting the Madwata team on Saturday. It's our women's team. So, please make sure you go and cheer for Kandav, please. But I'm very honored to be here today to the madam principal and to all our beautiful hardworking teachers here at Holy Family to our students who are here today. We're very honored to be here as uh coming from the uh ministry of environment and climate change uh madame director of environment is seated here but I also welcome our assistant principal of Lambbasa college who joined us here today as well as well as representatives from the Lombasa town council because what we are doing is actually a team effort. It cannot be done by our ministry alone. We need the council and we need other partners to do this. What a great day to be here to celebrate with you. World Cleanup Day and the International Day to preserve the ozone layer. How many of you would like to live in a Fiji with clean beaches, beautiful green forests, healthy oceans, fresh air, and beautiful natural surroundings? Put your hand up. Oh, just a few. I think all of us would like to. Eh, great. Don't be shy because the question and answer is coming. If you want to win a prize, you have to be the first one to get up from your chair and run up here. Yes, Lombasa College students, we had to stop them. They were all running up to the front. But let's see whether your holy family will do the same. So, the good news is that to protect our environment, we don't we don't need big actions. Yeah. Even if you don't really need money, you just need the will to do it. So if you're walking past, coming to school every day, you see rubbish on the ground, you see an area where there's rubbish just thrown up, you can organize a little group with you to do a bit of clean up, pick up that rubbish, right? Because it's world clean up day today. Now for me personally especially at home I have six kids and I tell my children I should not be cleaning up after you. You should clean up after yourself. Is that right you? Yes. Very strict rule in the house. Keep your spaces clean in the common area. Then we have chores. We have to divide up the chores and said okay one wash the dishes, one cook the food, right? One do the laundry. That's the common space. But your room must be tidy cuz I don't sleep in that room. So you better keep it tidy. It's the same for our environment. Yeah. When we come out, we got to keep our compound safe where you live, please. So when others walk past your house, it was you want to be a person to when people come by and say you have a tidy house. You know, I was raised in Colbo informal settlement. We didn't have much growing up, but what I appreciated was how my mom would emphasize the need for a clean house. It can be a lean to house. It can be not be a very nice house. Yeah. Maybe some windows don't really have the louvers or some things are broken. You might not have a proper flush. That's okay. But as long as it's clean. Yeah. That's a that's a kind of house love to visit. Cleanliness is next to >> godliness. It's amazing how those two words are used interchangeably. Cleanliness, godliness. And today we honor God. We honor our ancestors who've gone before us. And we honor the earth, [clears throat] right? There's a reason why they call it mother earth. Why? Because mother nurtures. Mother takes care. Mother protects. That's why it's called Mother Earth. And we are here to keep Mother Earth clean. So, I'm not a big fan of cleanups. I shouldn't be cleaning up someone else's rubbish. But we have to do it cuz no one else will. E. So, we we have to care about the environment and we go and clean up someone else's backyard. Come the next day, they're throwing the rubbish again. So, what needs to change? the behavior and the mentality. You know that rubbish is not meant to be thrown out in the environment. It's meant to be put in the bin and disposed of properly. And you see here today we are delivering to you waste separation bins. So you will learn how to sort rubbish right from here. So you have one is for plastic, one is for aluminium, then you have for general waste and then you have compost which is organic waste and you will be taught how to convert organic waste into organic fertilizer that you can use in your gardens. Yes. So everything can be recycled and reused. Pretty much everything. That's what we're here to teach you. So, the World Ozone Day theme is global action for a cooler planet. From clean plates to clean cities. Clean plates. That sounds good. I feel like eating right now. Actually, I like to clean the plate by having a good meal. But if you're going from clean plates to clean cities, that means after you eat when you have waste, where does it go? Yeah. Where does it go? So another question I want to ask you, you've heard the phrase everything starts from home. So my question I ask you is where is your home? Where is your home? Is it just a home where you're with your loved ones? >> Where else could be your home? >> School. Do you know you spend more time at school than at home? >> Yeah. So that's your home as well. Eh, your school environment. Uh church, you have church home. Yes. That you go to on Sunday and days of the week where you fellowship, where you spend time with your friends as well. Other places you could call home. But it's a small actions I've mentioned. Yeah. Do you know the fridges that we use? This is back for us in the 80s and the '9s. The fridges we used, they didn't have a certification on it. Eh, that it was free of CFC's. You know, who knows what CFC's are? What does it stand for? >> Chloro. >> Fluorocarbons. Good. So, we are trying to reduce greenhouse gases and the emissions of CFC's. So, because those is what harms the ozone layer. Yeah. So, we're trying to reduce that. So when we use fridges that are climate friendly, environmentally friendly, when we reduce waste, we recycle waste and we reuse waste. What does that mean? That means there's less to be burned, there's less to be thrown into the landfield. Yeah. There's less to be put out so that you need uh you might need fuel. You might need, you know, things that uh like that have engines to dispose of waste. When we reuse it, we are burning less. We are consuming less power and less fuel. That means less it goes into in the environment and the in the atmosphere and less to affect the ozone there. So, it's all all connected. One more question. Who is responsible for keeping our schools and communities clean? Thank you for not saying me. Or the Ministry of Environment. No, not pointing to me. or the ministry of environment or the min or the government. It's not just the government's role. Eh, it's each of us. Absolutely. It's all of us. Very simple. So, I mentioned the school waste managing initiative where you'll turn your environmental knowledge into action. But we're not really just talking about this for the school. We're not we're not we didn't bring these waste bins for you to just do this at school because you are the change that we need. Our generation very hard to change now. Yeah. Have you ever heard when you tell your parents something and what do they say? No. Back in the day we did it like this and like this can't change their minds. But you can learn and you can be the change. So we're teaching you to sort here. But what we really want you to do is to take this knowledge home. You say, "Mommy, dad or your guardian, we actually need two rubbish bins. One for the plastic and cans and one for the compost, the organic waste. Oh, and one more for general waste." So you can start doing that at home instead of the buckets to mix the grog or, you know, take other things. Yeah, you can get that and said, "No, this is going to be our rubbish bin now cuz we need to uh sort the rubbish at home." Yeah. And from there, you can take your plastic bottles and cans and take it to the council, right? And for the return and initiative, who's already taken bottles and plastic cans to and cans to the council yet for for to return? Do you know that that's a program that is either happening or will be happening >> December? >> In December, it's coming to you. So, collect all your cans and all your bottles. There'll be 5 cents each. 5 cents per bottle per can. So, we're bringing it to the council. They're currently building the facility. So, you bring your your cans and plastic bottles, take it to the council. You can sell it for your pocket money for the holidays. Yeah. So, find them. You know, in in Sua or kids, they get off the bus, they're just running for those bottles and uh and cans because they take it on a Saturday and they make like $50, $70. It's a lot of money. Can support families. So, and the school too can do it as an initiative to save up money for a camp or for an activity you want. So, it's very exciting times that we can actually have those recycled and your compost. You can also uh treat it organically for your fertilizer if you have a home garden. Now, couple of announcements I'd like to make. Number one, this Saturday at 700 a.m. at Lion's Park, Lions Park is the World Cleanup Day by the Lombasa Town Council. Yeah. So, it's Lombasa Cleanup Day at Lions Park this Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. So, please put on your shoes and get ready. Come with your families and support this initiative. Yeah, we hope to see you there on Saturday morning. The other second announcement is we are launching today what's called the National Reels Competition 2026. Do you know what a real is? R E E L. >> Yes. Reals, right? Do you see on social media? Do you know what that is? Okay. This is a competition who's going to send in the best real. And what's it for? You have an opportunity to inspire thousands of people across Fiji with a positive environmental message through your real, okay? And some practical solutions. So it might be any of the following. How to reduce waste. How to reuse and recycle where possible. How to keep your school and community clean. How not to burn or incinerate general rubbish. Okay? Because this can lead to health issues. You ever come past and you smell burning tires? It's awful. That's not good for you to be breathing right when you're burning tires and burning plastic. Not good. Not good for us. It can lead to air to health issues. So, we've come up with a do not litter campaign. We've increased the fine to $200 from $40. That's another one. That's a spot fine. So, we have we've trained um many officers including in your own Lombasa Town Council, Fiji Police Force and LTA. So, they'll be coming around issuing fines. Yes. So, make sure you don't get caught throwing rubbish. It's $200. you have to go home, get that money from your parents. Yeah, that's not good. So encouraging others to do the same. So your real could be on any of those. Now remember reals, how long should they be? Definitely not 4 minutes. Eh, when you're watching on social media, how long are your reals? >> 3 minutes tops. >> Yeah. 30 seconds to 1 minute to 2 minutes. The shorter and sharper the better. But we we're going to open we're launching that competition today and we will uh let your uh teachers know how you can enter and send in your reels. Okay. So, gives me great pleasure to officially launch [snorts] the national commemoration of World Ozone Day, of World Cleanup Day 2026, the school waste management initiative here in Holy Family and the Nationals Competition 2026. All the very best for that. Navalu. Thank you. [applause] Heat. Heat. [music] [applause] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. N. Oh. Oh.