Community comes together to celebrate Environmental Awareness Day

On December 7, Green Brigade - a group of students from Delhi Private School in Sharjah and their parents - dedicated to spread environmental awareness throughout our society. We held our first mega event, which had drawing, essay and quiz competitions.

It was a grand success, as around a hundred people turned up to celebrate ‘Green Brigade Awareness Day’, participating in lots of fun activities.

The day began at 8.30am with parents arriving half an hour early to get acquainted with the area, and the weather.

In an otherwise empty 1000 Palm Garden at the Sharjah Buhaira Corniche were parents, constantly reminding their children what to draw, what not to, what to write and what not to.

The theme for the drawing competition was ‘Clean UAE, Green UAE’.

It took us a lot of time to register everyone as some who had just come for a picnic on a lazy Friday morning rushed back to their homes to grab a poster, some pencils, to think up some ideas and get ready for registration after seeing creative minds at work.

Ultimately, when the drawing competition ended, the judges admitted to having a tough time deciding who was the best. The winners were really happy, with their work being appreciated. The parents were equally happy and delighted.

The essay competition was full of people, from eight-year-old children to 50-year-old adults penning down their thoughts on what they could do to save the environment. The theme for the competition was ‘My thoughts and actions to save the environment’.

Again, the judge was totally bamboozled as to who to give top marks to.

The quiz competition was a frenzy of parents and their children running about searching for answers to questions. The Green Brigade also performed its theme song, written and composed by one of our members, during the event.

At the award ceremony at the end of the day, the children and parents were presented with mugs with the Green Brigade logo on them.

The day ended by celebrating Environment Awareness Day, where we all cleaned up whatever mess we had made.

Selected drawings and writings by the participants will be published in Green Brigade’s forthcoming newsletter “Green Vision” in January, 2013.

I formed Green Brigade in early 2012 and the group currently has about a hundred members, dedicated to spreading awareness about the need to protect the environment. We also host events such as clean up campaigns and water conservation initiatives.

Also, in the last six months, Green Brigade membership on our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/groups/371497349573555/, has grown to 56 people and the success of this programme only strengthens the fact that we can do a lot for the community with our limited individual resources, through dedication to work for the cause.

Anybody interested in joining Green Brigade may send e-mail to unmeshdatta@yahoo.co.in or call 050-9527005.

The reader is a student of Delhi Private School in Sharjah and founder of Green Brigade.

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