I had never realized the truth of the proverb “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine” like I did today. As is usual to my daily morning routine, I logged on to be greeted by my Yahoo homepage. As I sat sipping my necessary morning tea, an unusual “news” headline caught my eye. “Garbage Crisis Stirs Protest in Naples”.

Unusual in its seemingly benign topic because in comparison to current news headlines of war, terror, death and disease, garbage seems secondary and trivial.

But is it really? In Naples it seems that it is not. According to the news, the city is suffering a two-week-old garbage collection crisis that has resulted in “scattered stinking mountains in the city.” With no solution in sight, angry citizens have taken to the streets in riots and rebellion. The media latched onto the story and finally government officials began to pay attention. In a public statement, Italian President Giorgio said that he was “alarmed” by the situation and called on officials to shoulder their responsibilities in resolving the problem. Premier Romano Prodi announced that government ministers would meet to resolve Naples’ garbage problems “once and for all.” Fearing negative international coverage on such a domestic issue, he continued to state that “Everybody is watching us, and I don’t want Italy to have such a negative image. It’s an emergency we must tackle rapidly.”

I don’t know what is worse — the fact that the Naples’ garbage pile up story went international or the fact that public officials did not act in time to prevent the incident from escalating to such heights. A two-week garbage pile up is an “alarming” incident. Especially since we are told that the city of Naples “has been plagued” by this problem “sporadically for several years.”

It is clear then that the problem has been brewing for some time, and it did not get the much needed public sector attention it should have. Eventually after things went from bad to worse, citizens reacted in anger. Many other excuses were given by officials, but the fact of the matter is that finger pointing and playing the blame game serves no purpose once the monster is unleashed. And now the monster in Naples is unleashed in the form of social disorder. It will be much harder for public officials to control this social disorder than it would have been for them if they had to deal with fixing the original problem of a simple garbage collection issue!

So you say, so what? What has this to do with us? Plenty. The article hit home with precision.

Today, Jeddah, the Bride of the Red Sea, the hub and gateway to the East, the destination for all Muslims, is dying of urban decay. Today Jeddah is a city of vibrant colors — but not the standard colors of beauty and diversity that the term usually describes. The colors I am talking of are those of neglect and abuse. They are an amalgam of colors showcasing clear and present health and safety hazards that all of us are exposed to on a daily basis.

These colors are those of unbearable sights, sounds, and smells caused by exposed piled-up garbage bins and overflowing sewage containers that are home to stray cats, flies and mosquitoes — and are breeding grounds for the spread of sickness and disease.

These colors are those of never-ending pot holes that are everywhere on our urban freeway system. They are colors of overflowing sewage systems; unsupervised exposed construction sites; mountains of rubble popping up by the day without any reason; unregulated advertising bill boards, unhygienic street vendors... and more.

Jeddah, the Bride of The Red Sea, is fast becoming a wasteland and a public health and safety hazard. You know it, I know it, and the public knows it. The media has exposed it time and again, but no one is listening, or at least, no government official has taken the initiative to validate this genuine concern for public welfare, which has been voiced repeatedly by its citizens.

In concluding the story of Naples’ garbage crisis, the Mayor of Naples called upon its citizens to “respect the law”. Easier said than done.

Respect is a reciprocal process; you have to give it in order to get it. What respect is the Municipality of Jeddah giving us?

— Fatin Bundagji is an institutional development consultant, She is based in Jeddah. [email protected]