DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 12 November 2006 — Two five-year-old Filipinos in Dubai have just learned that helping in environmental campaigns is not only fun but also rewarding.
Dan Rev Rodriguez and Vincent Angelo Idos were among the Filipino kids who joined their parents in a cleanup drive at Dubai’s Al Ras corniche on Friday. For being the youngest to participate, they were given 250 UAE dirhams each.
Yacob Al Ahli, head of the Deira unit of Dubai Municipality and general organizer of the drive, said the reward was meant to encourage everyone, especially the young ones, to help make their community a better place for everyone.
Al Ahli and Vicente Bandillo, acting Philippine consul ceneral, also handed over to the Filipino Basic Christian Community (FBCC) in Sharjah a cash prize of 500 dirhams for collecting 118 bags of rubbish and a digital camera for having the most number of participants — they had 51.
Rolson Aseveda, assistant head servant of FBCC, said they did not expect a reward for participating but they were grateful just the same and inspired to initiate a similar drive in the future in the Northern Emirates.
Aserveda said they also did not expect to find so much rubbish along the corniche area.
FBCC was just one of more than 10 Filipino organizations in Dubai and the Northern Emirates that took part in the Friday morning event.
This was the second cleanup in Dubai as part of the worldwide campaign that was initiated in the late 80s.
The event was organized by the LightForm Filipino Photography Guild and Dubai Municipality.
More than 300 Filipinos were involved in the cleanup. They picked up plastic bags, candy wrappers, and empty mineral water and wine bottles along the corniche.
“We are happy to note that we have quite a number of participants this year compared to last year’s,” Guild President Myrna Rebullanan-Anderson said. “And because of these, we are also happy to report that we had collected 557 bags full of garbage.”
