Pure religion: Time to fill a need
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The Mekong River is the 12th longest river in the world. Its headwaters begin in the Tibetan Plateau and wind some 3,000 miles through six countries in southeast Asia. This river provides food, water and vital transportation for more than 60 million people.
It is also the river that Max and Annalene Swenson admired each day as they walked from their apartment in Vientiane, Laos, to a school where they taught English. Although Elder and Sister Swenson were a long way from their home in Orem, Utah, they loved the country and people of Laos. They loved their assignment as humanitarian missionaries to teach English to government officials and to Laotian English teachers.
As they walked along the river each morning, they commented on how beautiful the river was, but they also noticed how much litter had been strewn along the way.
One morning, the Swensons decided they would do something about all the litter. So they put on rubber gloves, got a pair of long tongs and grabbed a few large garbage bags — and they began to clean.
Day after day they attacked the garbage that lay along the banks of the Mekong River. Passersby stopped and watched. "We love your beautiful country," the Swensons told them, "and we want to help keep it beautiful."
Gradually others wanted to help: a taxi driver and his daughter, college students, a French newspaper reporter and a half dozen street children.
Eventually, city officials began to notice the activity and asked how they could help. The Swensons offered to provide garbage cans, if the city would be willing to empty the garbage regularly.
So with the help of a grant from Church Humanitarian Services, the Swensons purchased 40 garbage cans and set them up at strategic locations along the riverbank.
"We felt we were contributing in a small way," Sister Swenson said. "We had time and we saw a need."
— Neil K. Newell, Welfare Services
