50,358 people participate in nationwide spring clean-up
The organizers of Teeme Ära 2017 reported that altogether 2,130 actions were taken bringing together at least 50,358 people, which amounts to 3.8 percent of the Estonian population. In Tallinn and Harju County alone 14,650 people participated in the nationwide spring clean-up.
Teeme Ära (“Let’s do it”) follows the Estonian tradition of talgud, a common effort to get a major task done. The term is difficult to translate and may refer to friends gathering to help someone tidy up their property, renovate, or in general get any kind of work done that would be difficult or very time-consuming if undertaken without help. Generally a kind of extended spring clean-up, in the case of the movement applied to all of the country.
Going on with statistics, the busiest area of Estonia on Saturday was Saaremaa, where almost 12 percent of the local population participated in a total of 211 different events cleaning up the environment, fixing hiking trails, and the like.
Though small, the movement again spawned a few associated events abroad: In Finland, 47 people participated in three different efforts, and in Canada close to Toronto 25 people participated in a Teeme-Ära-inspired event as well.
The work done includes maintenance work in villages and on public properties, collecting garbage and other waste, fixing and securing stairs, steps, hiking trails, and the like, erecting flagpoles for the Estonian centenary, cleaning up and renovating song and dance grounds, and work done around blocks of flats and in connection with youth programs.
Editor: Dario Cavegn
