We are delighted to share a blog written by Aamina Mohamed, a student at The British School Al Khubairat, Abu Dhabi (BSAK) who is part of a team delivering a Global Goals project for the 2018-19 Global Goals Competition.
Their project ‘BSAK Eco Innovators’ is among over 620 social action projects currently running as part of the GSL movement and we are excited to be supporting them to design and lead positive social change in their community.
Working as a team with people who want to make a difference just as much as you do is so inspiring, and makes you feel as though a difference can be made.
Within our local community we have identified a lack of awareness and concern for our actions and their impact on the environment. Hence, we are attempting to educate our community on the consequences of their actions, and providing them with small but effective ways to become more environmentally friendly.
We live in the UAE, which is one of the biggest carbon emitters, water consumers and waste producers in the world, despite our small population (according to the National, October 2010). Being a young country, the UAE is still developing ways to promote or have options available for people to recycle and minimise waste. This has fuelled our passion for educating the community, as we want to aid the UAE in their efforts to become more sustainable in whatever way we can. Even if our impact is not large, it is still the start of something that can always grow into something bigger.
Furthermore, the UAE has some of the highest rates of obesity and health issues in the world, which seems to stem from lack of awareness and the sudden introduction of fast food over a short period of time. The UAE is 10th in the world for the highest rates of diabetes according to the International Diabetes Federation, Diabetes Atlas. We would also like to combat this by educating people on the importances of staying healthy and on some diseases and health issues.
So far, we have pitched our main ideas to our Senior Staff – they have chosen our most realistic ideas to focus on. Our MAIN project is to help design a new eating area for the Primary students which aims to improve mental and physical wellbeing – we are contributing ideas for the layout, decor, food provided, and methods of energy supply. The area will be environmentally friendly and designed with sustainability in mind. We have met with our school Bursar, and we are now researching ideas for design which we will feedback in January.
We have also scheduled a meeting via Skype with the architects in England for January – here we will discuss our ideas and get feedback on which of our ideas are doable.
We have started an eco-committee within the school, and banned plastic cups, promoting the use of reusable water bottles. We attended a Plastic conference in December at NYUAD hosted by a company called ‘Precious Plastic’. It was an eye opening experience as we learnt schemes to implement into our school to make us more sustainable, as well as the extent of our impact on the environment.
Furthermore, we have booked a stall at our school fete to promote what we are doing and sell reusable shopping bags to raise awareness of the effects of plastic. This is in February. We may use this money to plant trees in AD (www.giveaghaff.ae). At the moment, we are designing posters and collecting information to share at the stall. We have also brainstormed ideas for games to have at our stall to attract a wider audience of children, as well as parents.
We have had to communicate and present our ideas to older and important members of staff – this is quite intimidating as it is something none of us have had to do before, therefore making us step out of our comfort zones.
We have also had to work with people who we do not usually work with – our group of Global Social Leaders (5) is a mix of different characters, so it has been refreshing to work with new people who are passionate about the same things you are.
We have had to allocate jobs to people in our group, meaning we have had to find out what our strengths are, and make them known to everyone else – admitting what you are good at is sometimes difficult, and this has allowed us to do so.
Many students in our school have a relaxed attitude to protecting our environment, and this has made it more of a challenge to share what we are doing, and to implement ideas. We are attempting to make people understand why this is such a large issue.
I would recommend to others our age to definitely get involved in projects like these, especially if you’re passionate about it! Seeing things come together and the difference you and your peers make is very rewarding. Even though it may take a large push in the beginning to get your school on board, once you get to started, only good things follow (usually!).
Working as a team with people who want to make a difference just as much as you do is so inspiring, and makes you feel as though a difference can be made.
Personally, I feel as though being involved in this project has made me more aware of my actions, the amount of plastic and water I consume, and the amount of greenhouse gases I unintentionally produce.
Taking steps to save our wonderful planet is something I am very proud of being a part of.
It has been an eventful experience that has taught us real life consists of facing rejection, but to never give up on the bigger picture, and our passion.
The team:
BSAK Eco Innovators: Aamina, Jood, Alex, Advay, Areen.
The 2018-19 GSL Global Goals Competition is now open and runs until June 2019. If you belong to one of the 700+ teams of students currently delivering a social action project as part of the competition we would love to hear from you and feature your blog and project photos on our website to inspire others.
Click here to submit a blog.
