Selfless domestic helper cleaning up your trail trash turns hobby into competition for Adventure Clean-up Challenge

Nuriatul Mu’alifah spends her Sundays on the trails and to the surprise of other hikers and friends she brings a pickup stick to fill bin bags with rubbish

The Adventure Clean-up Challenge pits groups against each other, all assigned an area of Hong Kong and judged on their clean-up and educational efforts

Reading Time:2 minutes

Nuriatul Mu’alifah, an avid hiker and domestic helper, who cleans up rubbish on the trails. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:00am, 22 Apr 2021Updated: 6:07pm, 3 May 2021

Nuriatul Mu’alifah loves to hike in Hong Kong, but she says it is not enough to just enjoy the trails without looking after them. She spends many of her Sundays with a pickup stick and rubbish bin bag in hand, clearing up the trails.

“People are used to dropping rubbish. When I go hiking, and I collect the trash, I wonder ‘why do you do this?’” said Mu’alifah, adding that masks are prolific trash at the moment. “Never mind, because you drop it, and I’ll pick it up. They just don’t think and keep going. It is just a small thing for Hong Kong, because I’ve lived here for 20 years and it’s already my second home.”

Mu’alifah, who is from Indonesia and works as a domestic helper, sometimes encourages her friends to come with her. They are surprised to see she has brought a bin bag and is getting them to clean-up too. Other friends are first-time hikers and Mu’alifah is happy to be an inspiration for them to take up exercise.

“It’s addictive,” she said. “They are asking me, ‘when are we going, when are we going?’ Or they always ask me about new places.

The Adventure Clean-Up Challenge sees teams dedicated to specific areas. The winner is judged on a number of criteria, including the amount of trash, innovative ways they clean-up and educating people about issues of pollution. Photo: Daniel Murray

“I’m always doing positive activities, like hiking, yoga, swimming,” Mu’alifah said. “When I collect the trash, people say ‘wow, you do this when hiking?’ People expect to see domestic helpers sitting in the park, or dancing. It’s also positive, but it’s very crowded and I hide from the crowded spaces.”