IN STEREO

[Heritage is important] for everyone, starting first for us: [so] that we value, take care of, enjoy our city, see it like people from outside. “That’s beautiful,” they say, [but] we spend every day by that place – by the church in front of my house, let’s say. Everyone passes by there: they pass and repass but do not give value. There are other people coming from outside: “How beautiful! They have beautiful churches. How beautiful their city is.” And we live here all the time and we do not value it; we do not care; we do not enjoy it; we do not take a picture: “It’s so nice this evening; how nice this church is.” But hey, how can we conserve it? Everyone, we all have to conserve it. Starting [by] taking care of our houses and spreading the word to the rest, right? Or to give an example: it’s not hard to save your trash.

[But] you go to the street; you go with your family; you go [on] the minibus; you see older ladies. And I always fight; I’m fighting all the time. “Everybody litters,” they tell you. But one has to start caring, loving our city. ‘Loving’, that is the word. And appreciating it, because it is our house. It is our house. So I think in the long run, it has to be the conscience of each person, and I think that originates in the family. Raising awareness, I mean. Because in the end, many values are lost in the family, aren’t they? Later, they educate you [in] school, but I think that it originates in the family. It is not easy; it is complicated. It is nice to see and to speak but making it reality is complicated. And we can’t only leave it to the authorities; it has to come from us. – Gris