Ronika Miachieo has succeeded in converting a dumping ground into a place of beauty.
From rags and waste, she has turned a littered plot into a mini-park just in front of the gate of the directorate of food and civil supplies here, in just four months.
“Every time I pass through dumping sites on the roadsides in the town, something breaks my heart. I believe cleanliness is next to godliness. My aim is also to save the environment and do something for the good of the people,” she said.
Ronima, who hails from Kohima village in Kohima district and lives with her father at Burma Camp here, said that she had approached many people to help convert the littered place without any success. Then she decided to go for it with her own funds.
She joined the Nagaland food and civil supplies department’s directorate as a contract employee under the integrated management of public distribution scheme five months ago.
Once she began the work, a pastor from a nearby area offered to help her and brought in his sister, who is an artist and a painter, to paint the walls near the site for a nominal charge.
A graduate from North East Hills University, Shillong, and a social worker, Ronika used toner cartridges, used to print ration cards in the directorate, to decorate the site. She planted seasonal flowers, erected sheds and put up benches for passersby to rest.
The directorate of food and civil supplies and some well-wishers came forward with some monetary help later.
She has earned accolades from the directorate and locals.
Miachieo embarked on the journey of social work in 2014. She provides books, stationery and medicines to under-privileged students. She has also set up a library in a school.
She said some doctors in Dimapur give her sample medicines while some well-wishers provide her with books and stationery. She said she visits these villages twice a year to distribute the items.
In 2018, she took up the challenging job of cleaning up a 900-feet long drain at Walford here.
The Dimapur Municipal Council provided her with machinery and labourers to clean the clogged drain that floods the Walford area during the rainy season.
She supplies spices brought from south India to Dimapur and other parts of the state. She also makes pickles and supplies them in other northeastern states.