I am an English woman married to a Mauritian with one son. We have been on holiday since December 6th, and we hope to come back to settle next year. My question is : do the Mauritian people realise what a beautiful country is theirs ? As I drive around I am in a dream of the beauty of this island : the mountains, the views... I could go on and on. But why oh why must the people throw their rubbish about to spoil the beauty? Just today waiting for the bus to start, a young man threw his empty juice carton out of the door. His mum had a bag and could have taken it home to dispose of. Many seaside places have rubbish bins almost unused while the beach is strewn with bottles or bags...The problem is raising the consciousness of the people ? Mauritian and tourists ? that Paradise deserves cleanliness (it is, after all, next to Godliness). I would love to be given the job to try to initiate a sense of greater pride in their homeland in the breast of the Mauritian people...

Barbara ROUSSETY