Coming forward with the idea of spreading awareness about cleanliness and hygiene, to setting the goal of supporting and reinforcing the government’s initiative of a cleaner and greener Pakistan, Hoga Saaf Pakistan, powered by Dettol, is surely a campaign that has gained the attention of the citizens of Pakistan.
ARY Network, who is the official media partner for Reckitt Benckiser’s Hoga Saaf Pakistan, is in full swing to promote this national cause and is using its media platform to effectively create more awareness on this issue. Fahad Ashraf, CEO Reckitt Benckiser, Fahad Mustafa, the brand ambassador of the campaign and Iqrar ul Hassan, the renowned host of program ‘Sar e Aam’ were invited on Waseem Badami’s 11th Hour show to discuss the situation of cleanliness in Pakistan, and following are the key problems discussed on the show:
1. Pollution is not considered a Crucial Problem
Waseem Badami brought forth the fact that the crisis of pollution in Pakistan ironically is not considered to be a serious one. He spoke categorically that if we ask hundreds of Pakistanis about serious problems of the country, no one will enlist pollution among it, and consequently it keeps increasing day by day. International corporations like Reckitt Benckiser are now not only addressing it, but working to get rid of it.
2. Increasing Amount of Garbage
The host stated the fact that 48 million tons of garbage is produced annually in Pakistan, the amount of which is increasing by 2% yearly, which on its own is alarming enough, keeping its global consequences in mind.
3. The Curse of Plastic Bags
In the show the Pakistani federal minister and advisor of Prime Minister for climate change Amin Aslam revealed that in the 1990s 10 million plastic bags were made, but the stats of 2018 show that the amount of it has increased to 55 billion per year! A non-biodegradable curse this has become.
4. Restricted Resources in Schools
Fahad Ashraf presented the stats of UNICEF which says 47% of schools in Pakistan do not have a hand washing facility to start with. In the 21st century, such basic facilities are still absent from our schools. Thanks to Hoga Saaf Pakistan’s initiative, private schools are now teaching their students how to wash hands and this awareness of basic hygiene has now reached more than 20 million kids.
5. An Error in Parenting
As infuriating as it may sound, but the biggest cause as well as the solution to the issue of cleanliness is the upbringing of people in our society, as pointed out by Fahad Mustafa. Kids needs to be taught from a very young age to take ownership of their hygiene as well as that of their surroundings. He quoted the example of his daughter Fatima, who if ever sees anyone littering chants, ‘Mil Kay lagain gay jaan tou hoga saaf Pakistan.’
6. The Faulty Priority List
Fahad Ashraf shared an experience in the show where he, along with his team, visited a village with no washrooms built in their house due to a lack of affordability. Upon offering them money for the purpose, they expressed that they would buy a television set, instead of building hygienic toilets in their homes. Along with getting an education, we also need to rearrange our priorities to what’s really important.
7. The Endless Blame Game
The crisis of an overload of garbage and pollution is always blamed on authorities, while no one is willing to take ownership of the problem at hand. Instead of being in a constant blame game, it is high time we need to make individual efforts to eradicate this problem.
To sum up the long conversation, Waseem Badami summarized the story in Wasi Shah’s poetry which says:
Jabar ka Mausam kab badlay ga?
Jab hum badlain, tab badlay ga
We can’t hope for a change unless we aren’t ready to change ourselves, and that’s exactly what Hoga Saaf Pakistan is working on. Hoping for a better difference in the most neglected issue of our country, we wish the participants of the movement all the luck for their endeavors.
