Our gutters are calling out to us but we seem to be far away.

Our gutters are crying but no one can hear them. They are weeping but no one is around to dry up their tears. Day in day out items wrapped in polythene bags and papers are thrown into the gutters. These fill the eyes of the gutters and make them cry.

Sometimes our gutters try their best to share smiles with us when they see us removing the filth out of them however these smiles do not keep long. The simple reason is that, the filth is removed but it is place right in front of the gutters, who wait patiently to see it taken away finally. But the joy does not last for any of the gutters because these rubbish are not taken. The rains bring them back into the gutters.  Sometimes, some people intentionally wait for the rains to throw their heap of rubbish into the gutters.

Our gutters are chocking, they are not able to breathe properly, and they are very sick due to the stench that comes out of the items placed inside them. Their purpose in life is repressed. They are not able to drain water. Hence making them agents of illnesses such as cholera and malaria. This makes them very unhappy because that is not what they want to be.

What can you and I do for our gutters?  How can we bring lasting smiles on the faces of our gutters?

The answers are with us, let’s put them into action, it is never too late to cause our gutters to upgrade from smile to laughter.

Written by: Mrs. Vicentia Vifadji Agbeyome, Accra