Firstly lest one might think otherwise let’s dispel the suggestion that iServe is yet another overpriced product from an American maker of electronic goods.
No iServe is a Christian youth organisation which aims to bring together young people from the many, often small churches in the city to meet together and perform community service.
October 24th 2014 saw iServe’s inaugural environmental activity following in the footsteps of the monks from We Clean who could be seen on the streets two years ago. If you have clicked on the We Clean link you will know that, try as we might to serve the community, the people, the country … success is not a sure thing. More on that later.
So what was the aim of the activity? Take a look at the pictures below:
Nails in trees can become entry points for disease and insect attack which may lead to reducing the vigour of the tree and possibly death of parts or all of the tree. The aim of the activity was to examine all the trees on both sides around the city moat and remove all nails.
Leading the exercise was a consultant team from Chiang Mai Keow Suay Hom in conjunction with the City Council, shown below briefing participants, under the watchful eyes of soldiers of the Royal Thai Army.
So was the event a success? Bringing the young people together constitutes a success in itself for which the church leaders deserve congratulation, however was the community served as hoped for?
The above pictures of nailed trees was taken across from the end of Huai Keow Rd, on the day after the Saturday event. One can hardly blame the young participants if the job was left unfinished as I only saw two out of around one hundred carrying tools to remove nails.
But should they have been asked to walk around between 10 am and Noon, without hats in the sunshine? What ever happened to safety first? The council gardens workers do not go about so unprotected from the cancerous rays of the sun.
Why did not the Keow Suai Hom organizers ensure hats and tools were provided?
Why one might also ask, were not Municipal Officials, the people responsible for nailing the trees required to remove them? The precedent exists in Chiang Mai because following a highly corrupt tree purchasing program during the mayor-ship of the uncle of the present mayor of Chiang Mai, officials who oversaw the purchases at highly inflated prices were required to reimburse the state, and some are still paying monies although they have retired from government service.
Your reporter was unable to stay with the campaign until the finish, so we cannot report here on the final outcomes apart from the observation of trees remaining full of nails. We would like to know if there was any challenge to the municipality over its mismanagement of trees around the city moat, and its audacity in expecting volunteers to undo damage it caused?
In future iServe would be well advised to scrutinize with care the credentials of those who would take its labor for free.
May they succeed and may readers give them encouragement and support.
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