The Litter-Picking Squad

On Sunday morning the park near home was packed. People cycling, people jogging, someone selling chicken porridge.

But Baby Ais noticed something else.

Under a bench, a plastic bottle. By the swings, a sweet wrapper. At the edge of the pond, a squashed coffee cup. And on the grass, a little sparrow was pecking and pecking at a plastic wrapper, thinking it was food.

"Mo," whispered Baby Ais. "The bird is trying to eat plastic."

Baby Mo clapped loudly. The bird flew off. But the plastic wrapper was still there.

The two of them stared at it. Then at each other. They were twins — sometimes they didn't need to speak to know what the other was thinking.

"Abi!" they cried together. "We want to pick up the litter!"

Abi raised his eyebrows, then smiled. He took an empty shopping bag from his backpack and two pairs of gardening gloves. "Okay. But the rules are: wear gloves, and don't touch anything sharp. If you find broken glass, call me."

"Yes, Commander!"

And so the Litter-Picking Squad was born. It had two members.

Plastic bottle — into the bag. Sweet wrapper — into the bag. Straw — into the bag. Squashed coffee cup — into the bag.

A boy playing football stopped to watch. "What are you doing?"

"We're the Litter-Picking Squad," said Baby Mo proudly. "So the birds don't eat plastic."

The boy thought for a moment. Then he picked up a bottle cap near his foot. "Can I join?"

Now there were three members.

Then came a brother and sister. Then a grandfather who had brought his own plastic bag. Then the porridge seller, who donated a big bag and said, "When you're done, porridge is on me!"

Now there were seven members.

As they picked, Abi told a story. "Did you know, the Prophet ﷺ said that removing something harmful from the path is charity?"

"Charity?" Baby Ais was puzzled. "But we're not giving money."

"Charity isn't only money. Making the path clean so people don't trip, so birds don't get sick — that's a gift too. A gift for everyone who passes by."

Baby Mo looked at the now-full bag. "So today we gave loads of charity."

By late morning, the park looked different. The grass was green, with no flecks of coloured plastic. The pond was clear. And on the grass, the little sparrow was back — this time pecking at real seeds.

The Litter-Picking Squad sat in a row on the bench, eating free chicken porridge.

"Again next week?" asked the football boy.

"Again next week!" answered seven voices at once.

"…and removing something harmful from the path is charity." (Bukhari 2989, Muslim 1009)

Talk it over with your little one: around our home, is there a small "harm" we could remove this week? 🌿