In the sweltering heat, volunteers with the #CleanBrakpan movement rolled up their sleeves and tackled the grounds of Tweedy Park Old Age Home and the park on the corner of Kingsway Avenue and Gordon Street on Saturday.
The park was a big undertaking because, besides its overgrown state, people used it as an illegal dumping site. Broken windshields, trash and building rubble filled every surface of the park.
The group had to call for a donation of more refuse bags at one point and continue work on Monday.
Tweedy Park was in a similar sorry state, with much less trash but equally overgrown.
The team cleaned the gardens, which had gone unmaintained for months, cut the grass, trimmed trees, and weeded the paving around the grounds.
Riaan Marais adopted Tweedy Park as an ongoing project and will continue to maintain the grounds to provide the elderly residents with a safer, cleaner living environment.
“State-owned old age homes have become places where people are dumped to wait to die. The maintenance of not only the units but also the grounds and surroundings is neglected,” Isak de Lange, a volunteer, said.
“Is this what we want to give them? On Saturday, we went to a facility [Tweedy Park] to pick up litter and garbage, clean the yard, cut the grass, and weed the flower beds. The seniors came out to look at what was happening, and one or two came to help us.
“Such facilities are meant to uplift the elderly, be a safe place where they can go for a stroll, sit on a bench in the shade, listen to birds. How can they do just that in a filthy place?
“I salute everyone who assisted us in uplifting our fathers and mothers who brought us up with dignity through their autumn stage of life,” Isak concluded.
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