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Photos of expats cleaning polluted trench in Hanoi go viral

Photos of expats cleaning polluted trench in Hanoi go viral

Thursday, May 19, 2016, 17:14 GMT+7

Photos of foreigners picking up trash from a heavily polluted ditch in Hanoi that surfaced last week on Facebook have won the admiration of many Vietnamese, while reportedly upsetting local authorities, as the pictures imply that they have done nothing to keep their area clean.

The expats are seen in the online photos immersing themselves in the black, dirty water of the garbage-packed canal in order to clean it out.

The cleaning job has been identified as a regular activity of a volunteer group on Facebook called 'Keep Hanoi Clean.' One of the group leaders is James Joseph Kendall, an American who teaches English in the capital city.

Kendall posted some photos of the activity on the Facebook page of the group on Sunday, saying that besides cleaning the water in the morning, the volunteers also planted some trees along the ditch in the afternoon.

“Thank you so much to everyone who came out today and helped us pick up trash and plant trees,” he wrote. “We had so much fun! The river and the land look so much better.”

Kendall said his group received a lot of support from local people with the cleaning task. “Everyone who was there wanted to get involved and it was heartwarming to receive the help we got from everyone,” he said.

The 'Keep Hanoi Clean' team is expected to continue cleaning next week “same place, same time,” the man said at the end of his post.

The polluted canal where the volunteers came to clean has been identified as a trench in Yen Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District.

According to news website Tri Thuc Tre, the ward administration was a bit upset as the foreigners had carried out their work without notifying authorities beforehand.

While the ward administration supports the kind act, it would have been better if they had asked for permission first, the news site quoted an official as saying.

In the meantime, Do Ngoc Anh, deputy chairman of Yen Hoa Ward, said authorities were also upset as the photos shared online could mislead people into believing that the ward administration did not care about the polluted canal.

Ngoc Anh said local authorities had in fact started cleaning the canal for five consecutive days from April 21 before the volunteers began their work.

Hoang Trung Kien, the ward’s chairman, told Tri Thuc Tre that many negative comments were directed against the ward administration after the photos surfaced online, which is unacceptable.

The 'Keep Hanoi Clean' group was only founded two weeks ago, and has so far attracted more than 3,100 members.

According to Kendall, one of the page's three administrators, the group is for “everyone who is willing to volunteer to keep [Hanoi] clean.”

“We need everyone to look out for people dumping waste in waterways, ponds or lakes. Also, we will find dumping spots, clean them up and plant gardens there after the trash is gone. Planting gardens will both help the land and prevent people from dumping there in the future,” Kendall writes on the page’s introduction.

The group’s first goal is to clean all the rivers and restore the flow again.

“Imagine Hanoi with all its rivers flowing! This is a huge goal, but we believe it can be done. With your help, the city will be clean and beautiful again,” Kendall said.

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