Dubai's Nature song gets heard loud and clear

Dubai: Organised by the Dubai Police, the Nature Surprises week managed to raise awareness in children about the environment that we live in, a statement by the organisers said yesterday.

"It has been a week filled with various activities that sensitised children to the environment and fostered their artistic skills, in an entertaining and educative format," said a spokesperson.

The Nature Surprises week, organised for the first time this DSS, also included several events enjoyed by the whole family.

Lt Col Mohammad Ahmad Bin Dylan, Head of the Nature Surprises Organising Committee, said, "We sought to present all environmental issues by increasing awareness about the importance of preserving and safeguarding our environment, with all it's life forms. Different events inspired by nature such as musical performances, artistic shows and competitions were presented. Visits were also made to special needs centres.

"Overall, the committee was happy with the success of the week and the large turn-out of visitors, especially children, who were the main intended audience. The activities attracted loads of children and their families, in malls and shopping centres, around Dubai and Modhesh Fun City," he said.

Some of the events included "Dubai's trees talk", where trees 'talked' to children, about the land, sea and air environment. Other activities featured actors dressed as insects and butterflies, slugs and shells, all talking and interacting with the audience. The talks on camping, where tips were offered about creating a successful camping trip in the wilderness, was also much appreciated; as was the play on natural disasters at Mercato, presented in a way that informed and entertained the children. The play featured a little girl who finds a book titled, "Natural Disasters". She asks her grandfather to read her parts of the book.

Mercato also hosted the Magical Box, which opened up new topics and stories about nature and the environment. These stories were wonderfully informative and showed children what can happen to the environment if we stopped caring about it.