costa del silencio volunteers clean up

Volunteers transform Costa del Silencio after three-year clean-up

Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.

A neighbourhood reborn

The mini-golf course has got its colour back, the benches have found their rightful place beneath the palm trees, and the gardens are turning green again – no hosepipes required, just carriers full of water bottles. Until relatively recently, these same corners of Costa del Silencio, in Arona, were piled high with rubbish, weeds, rubble, graffiti and fallen branches. Determined to change things, local residents pulled on their fluorescent hi-vis vests and headed out with bags, brooms and tools. Some days there were just two of them; on others, ten, fifteen or even twenty-two. More than a thousand days after that first clean-up, that small band of helpers has grown into an association of 50 volunteers, which this month marks its third anniversary.

How it all began

It all started in September 2023, when Hannelore Ottevaere, a Belgian-born resident who has lived in Costa del Silencio for over two decades, posted a plea on Facebook for help clearing some private plots of land next to the Chayofita estate. “Only about three people turned up to that first call-out. The next clean-up brought in more neighbours, and the one after that even more,” she recalls. Before she knew it, that social media appeal had become a regular fixture for a growing group of residents.

A few weeks later, the volunteers – some of whom had come from different parts of the world – moved into the Ten-Bel estate and turned Parque Damon, which they nicknamed “the Chernobyl of Tenerife”, into their unofficial headquarters. “The space had been cut off from everyday life for many residents for years, and was full of undergrowth, waste, rubble and unsightly aerosol scribbles,” explains the president. Since then, clean-up sessions have been held two or three times a week, and the group has pruned, planted, watered, painted and repaired footpaths, returning to public use an area that seemed beyond saving.

Who is responsible for Ten-Bel?

And it is no accident that the area had fallen into such a state. Ten-Bel was built 61 years ago as a large private tourist complex and was never formally handed over to Arona council, which means responsibility for maintaining its streets, parks and other communal areas falls to the property owners, not the local authority. Yet decades of decline and a lack of upkeep by those owners have left much of the estate in a state of neglect, prompting residents to take matters into their own hands.

Beyond the bin bags

Over time, the group’s work has gone far beyond simply filling rubbish bags. The association now runs “a scheme to adopt palm trees through donations that pay for their pruning,” explains Wanda Ortiz, vice-president of Costa del Silencio Limpio. Ortiz, a Puerto Rican who splits her time between Tenerife and the United States, has also set up a free open-air library where neighbours can borrow or swap books, as well as dispensers of bags for picking up dog mess.

“It’s lovely to care for the place where we live with affection and love, to keep ourselves active and, above all, to enjoy good times among friends,” says Italian Silvia Motta, the association’s secretary. Each volunteer contributes whatever they do best. Olga Lvova, for instance, has put her design skills at the service of the neighbourhood, helping to bring colour back to walls that had been covered in graffiti for years with a series of murals. “For me, using what I know how to do in service of a place we feel is ours is a way of bringing it back to life and getting residents to enjoy it once more,” she says, pausing to pick up a couple of empty cans.

A project that won’t stop

Now, neither rain, nor storms, nor low-pressure systems, nor even the suffocating heat that grips the south of the island can stop the association, which brings together volunteers of many nationalities – some resident all year round, others who return during the winter months. To sustain this work, Costa del Silencio Limpio has had to equip itself with its own resources, including public liability insurance, tools and a van, funded through donations, supportive local businesses and fundraising initiatives such as calendars and raffles, the proceeds of which also go towards animal shelters.

Three years on, the hi-vis vests and shears have become part of the landscape of Costa del Silencio. “We started out wanting to do a bit of cleaning and now we feel we are reclaiming our neighbourhood together,” sums up the president, before heading out once more to pull up weeds. More than a thousand days after that first session, there are still many corners to restore – between cracked pavements and palm trees awaiting their prune – but the transformation so far speaks for itself.

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