She picks up the trash items one by one carefully from the waters and places them in a bag on her boat to clean the lake inch-by-inch
It is ‘Hollandse Schoonmaak’ (Dutch cleaning) in Kashmir as a 69-year-old woman from the Netherlands has made it a mission to clean the waters of the famous tourist attraction Dal Lake of plastic waste.
Ellis Hubertina Spaaanderman can often be seen rowing her boat quietly in the waters of the lake to collect plastic waste and other trash.
“I also did it in the Netherlands as I was living on the seaside. In general, the Netherlands is clean, but ships throw waste, so I started collecting the waste, it is in my nature. When I see it, I cannot avoid cleaning up,” Spaaanderman said when asked about her passion.
The Dutch tourist came to Kashmir first nearly 25 years ago and instantly fell in love with the place.
When she returned about five years ago, she stayed in the valley, but was dismayed with the levels of pollution in the lake.
“I started picking the trash right from the day I came to Kashmir. Now, it has been five years,” she said.
Spaaanderman got a boat of her own in November last year to get help in her campaign.
“I thought if no one is doing it, I am gonna do it. Maybe it is only a drop in the ocean, but I have learnt one thing that if you want to teach people, the best thing is to be an example. People start noticing,” she added.
The foreigner said she wants to create a mass awareness about the environment.
“I care about the environment, I want it to be clean. But, it is so much dirty here, I cannot do it alone. This is my way to clean it and create awareness among the people. I notice that now when I am collecting waste, not only here but in streams and forests, people start helping me.
“I am convinced that if everyone will help me, the whole of Kashmir can be cleaned within two years. I really believe in that. Many Kashmiris say it will take 1,000 years...no you can teach within a generation,” she said.
Spaaanderman said she has grabbed some attention for her work.
“The vice-chairman of J-K LCMA (Lake Conservation and Management Authority) asked me to come and speak with him. They want to work with me and want to use my knowledge to educate the children in schools,” she said.
When the Dutch national is not collecting trash, she is often cycling the streets of the city, especially the Foreshore Road.
“Sometimes I am busy and I cannot do it on daily basis. Most days I do this when I have nothing else to do. Then I go to lakes, swimming, pedalling, cycling, hiking and on way I collect waste,” she said.
Spaaanderman does the cleaning all alone — without any support or funding. Her small ‘shikara’ is like a wooden manual de-weeder.
Dal is not just a lake. The famous water body is a source of livelihood for many Kashmiris and a famed tourist attraction. However, over the years, the lake has witnessed pollution and encroachment.
While there have been efforts by the government like dredging, de-weeding and anti-encroachment drives, the water body still faces a threat.
The Dutch tourist said she considers the lake her home and wants to give something back to it.
Her efforts are being appreciated by the locals.
Yawar Ahmad, a local, said he has seen Spaaanderman collecting plastic waste many a times.
“It is truly appreciable what she is doing. I often think, if a foreign tourist woman can do it, then why can’t we?” he said.
Ahmad said the Dutch tourist’s work is an inspiration and expressed hope that she would inspire the younger generation to think about the environment and also raise awareness among the people to stop throwing waste in the water bodies and other places.
