JEDDAH: In order to engage Saudi youths and encourage volunteer work, a Saudi youth organization has launched a campaign during the holy month to clean the Kingdom's mosques.

The campaign, entitled "Together - to Clean Mosques," is being run by the Saudi youth organization Kingdom Youth for the second consecutive year.

"We started last Friday. Thirty Saudi youths between the ages of 15 to 25 have volunteered so far. They are divided into three groups consisting of around 10 people each," said Wajdi Khayyat, the organization's secretary general.

"We're aiming to clean three mosques a day. Each group is responsible for one mosque every day," said Khayyat, a 23-year-old tutor at King Abdulaziz University. The team cleaned 20 of Jeddah's mosques in Ramadan last year. "This year we want to achieve a larger number. We're also waiting for a legal permit to be issued so we can continue to do our work throughout the year and not only in Ramadan," he added.

The mosques chosen for cleaning are nominated by imams, worshippers and the Ministry for Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Dawa and Guidance, said Khayyat.

"Our main job is to clean mosques. We mainly focus on mosques with poor facilities. We started last Friday with some mosques on the expressway between Jeddah and Makkah, and Jeddah and Madinah" he added. The campaign will continue until Ramadan 21.

Abdullah Lamfon, a 19-year-old high-school graduate, has been cleaning mosques since Kingdom Youth launched its campaign two years ago. "I am a volunteer with Kingdom Youth and have been cleaning mosques for the last two years. The campaign has just started again this year and we've cleaned one mosque so far in the Al-Hamra district," he said.

"The volunteer work is rewarding and also a way of killing time by doing something useful."

Abbas Shata, a 20-year-old student at Yanbu Industrial College, participated in the campaign last year. "We're still at the beginning of the campaign ... my group has so far finished one mosque in the Al-Basateen district because we've been waiting for a permit to be issued," said Shata.

Shata is one of the founders of Kingdom Youth and the head of his team. "The campaign is open to all. We welcome everyone," he said.