Thiwesh Lechuman; Garbage Collectors Are The Forgotten Frontliners

We’ve all learned that keeping our hands clean is one of the most efficient ways to avoid contracting the coronavirus. But what if getting your hands dirty is part of your job?

Despite the pandemic, literally everyday garbage collectors do just that to keep our nation clean. They have never once complained.

Hailing from Cheras, Thiwesh Lechuman, 19, has been working as a garbage collector since June last year with Alam Flora.

There are people who will look down on his job. But he vows to keep on collecting their trash to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Many of them seem to think it’s an easy task to go around housing areas and place rubbish collected from each home inside the truck. But, garbage collection is a tremendously strenuous profession that involves enduring a variety of stenches. His mom, Valli Supan Ponachi, has worked for the firm for 30 years as a road sweeper. Despite her meagre earnings, she was able to educate and prioritise her children’s future.

“I am grateful to have a job at a time when many Malaysians have become jobless.”

Sharing his year-old experience working as a garbage collector, Thiwesh stated that his working mates are taking care of him and treat him like family. Looking up to his mom as his inspiration, the 19-year-old teen didn’t think twice to accept the job. He is aware that finding a job during a pandemic has also made things worse.

We often assume that once we dispose of the potentially contaminated trash outside, the virus goes away for all intents and purposes. That’s not the reality for sanitation employees, both professional and informal, who are exposed to trash, everyday. They perform a service that is probably more required than ever, as they come in contact with huge amounts of trash, including disposable components where the virus may survive for several hours.

Thank you Thiwesh for speaking up, not for yourself, but for all garbage collectors out there. We will be forever grateful for your notable service to keep the environment clean.

Info Source: NST