Clean the Stream

Hello,

My name is Clean, Clean–the–Stream, because my water is crystal clear. I would like to tell you the story of my life. When I was a little pool, my water was dirty and dusty. But then clean rains turned me into a fast stream, which was eager to see the world. I felt strong and started my dangerous journey.

I have always wanted to travel. I’ve always wanted to see how people live. And my dream came true.

At first I flowed to the forest. Many animals and birds drank my water, many plants grew on my banks. But I saw no people.

Once when I was crossing a forest meadow I saw a family on a picnic. There was a boy named Bob, with his Mum and Dad there. I watched their behavior. It was just terrible. First of all they made a big fire. The boy broke a lot of young branches for the fire. After their picnic when they were ready to go away, they threw all the rubbish they had into my water and said “What a wonderful place!”. It was the first time I saw people so merciless to nature. But I continued on my way. Soon I saw a very nice girl. She was splashing in the water. She noticed how miserable I was and took all the rubbish out of my water and put it into some special bag. I thanked her.

On my way through the forest I saw forest fires, cut-down trees, destroyed bird nests, and animals killed by hunters.

I flowed farther and farther across a national park, around a big city, and along high mountains. At last I came up to the bank of a beautiful river. I flowed into its current and continued my journey. There was a big factory on the bank of the river. I noticed that the water near the factory was dirty, yellow and green. Then I understood why. The factory poured all its waste into the river. But I chose another way near the opposite bank, left the river and my water remained clean.

Then rains began and I turned into a big stream again. I wanted to go back home, to my native land. But I lost my way and soon I saw some big rocks and a village at their foot. I ran into the village. But there was so much rubbish that I decided to go round the village. I saw houses – they were poor, dirty and small, and people – they were also poor, dirty and looked miserable. Then some children noticed me, and all the people of the village ran up to drink my water. I had pity on them, because I understood that the people didn’t have enough clean water and my clean water was salvation for them.

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I ran up to the rocks and saw a very beautiful bird. It was an ibis, and her name was Aby. We made friends. Aby wanted to fly away from her native land with me, because some villains wanted to kill her. There were no ibises around and she was very lonely and frightened. She was looking for a safe place. I decided to help Aby, especially after I had heard two hunters talk:

– Ok, Jack, soon we’ll catch this ibis. I think, its worth a lot of money.

– Yes… It sounds so wonderful! A lot of money! But, I think it is unfair to kill this bird. There are only 11 ibises on the Earth…

– It doesn’t matter. It is only a bird, isn’t it?

– Yes, but…

– I’d like to have more profit. You see, the stream is full of fish. What about catching some? We’ll dam the stream, and all the fish will be ours.

– A wonderful idea!

Now I was in danger too. I didn’t know what to do. I thought a lot and at last a wonderful idea came to me! I changed my direction. Aby flew with me. We saw a small town where people were very glad to see me because they needed water to drink and water their gardens.

At that time the two hunters, real villains, dammed my current. The people of the town saw that my current had been blocked and went to see what the matter was. They found the villains, arrested them and took them to the police. I was quite happy.

Then I became a small pond, and children bathed in my water.

And what about Aby? At last she met another ibis and they flew away to the national park which was not far from the town. It was the safest place for them.

And once, on a sunny summer day, I saw some birds in the sky. They flew up to me, and I saw that it was…Aby with her husband Chet and their baby-birds! I was very glad to see them. We talked for a long time, and then the happy family flew back home.

There are a lot of streams, rivers, forests and animals on the Earth. But many of them are very unhappy, because people do harm to them. And they cry: “PEOPLE, WE WANT TO LIVE!”

I end my letter hoping that some day people will finally hear this cry.

Truly yours,

Clean-the-Stream