Our Tuffy Beach Clean-Up competition, which gave away a brand new shred stick compliments of Firewire and Share The Stoke Foundation each month, is now over. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t take the initiative to get out there and clean up your local. And yes, please send in the evidence if the notion strikes, we love seeing our beloved beaches shine because of you cool clean-cats! That’s exactly what Cape Town based Daniel Botha did at Seapoint, with a team of grommets from Surfpop at his side. We caught up with Daniel about the organisation and its eco-conscience goals.
Not a bad day to get outdoors!
Howzit Daniel, so tell us more about Surfpop… when did it start and what’s the organization all about?
Surfpop started in February 2014. We aim to establish a way out for children from disadvantaged communities, leading them away from gangsterism, crime and drugs. The ‘way out’ entails a new outlook on life, brought about by the love for surfing and the ocean.
And this day in particular?
We were in Sea Point, Cape Town cleaning the beaches whilst educating the Surfpop groms about rubbish and the negative effect this has on the environment and our sea life. Although the beaches were somewhat cleaner than we anticipated, we managed to find quite a bit of rubbish as you can see in the pictures. We’re keen to do this activity with the kids on a bi-monthly basis. Moreover using the litter to make interesting surfing equipment. We take the kids surfing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They’re going to swimming lessons every Tuesday and Thursdays, otherwise are it’s skating days, beach clean-ups, arts and crafts and other educational activities.
Seaaaapoint!
Using litter to make interesting surf equipment, that sounds epic!
Yeah we’re hoping to start using the rubbish to create surf related objects and just to keep it fun for the children and teach them to look after the beaches. I’m basically trying to teach the boys some life skills through surfing and the ocean.
How can other people get involved?
Financially and logistically we rely on volunteers to keep the program running so right now we are trying to get as much exposure as possible. People are of course more than welcome to come and join us for a day or two especially on Fridays. The best way to get in touch is to call me on 0796181313 or send an e-mail.
The team’s loot from what seemed like a clean beach to the untrained eye.
All smiles and shakas for Dan the man and the Surpop groms.
