JEDDAH, 27 June 2007 — Beginning in mid-July more than 3,000 male and female volunteers will participate in a cleaning and maintenance campaign of Jeddah’s historic downtown area.
According to a senior official at the Jeddah municipality, Jeddah Mayor Adel Fakieh will be among the volunteers in the campaign which is part of the recently announced yearlong “We Are All Responsible” awareness campaign.
The campaign aims at removing sprayed paintings from walls, cleaning paths, gardens, mosques and pedestrian underpasses and spreading awareness of the environment and preservation of the area in general, said Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, head of the media department at the Jeddah municipality.
Participants will come from a number of schools, banks, the media, the Al-Bir Charitable Association, Effat and Dar Al-Hekma colleges and will include artists and area residents.
Al-Ghamdi said the municipality had a preparation meeting early this week to discuss final issues before the launch of the campaign. He said the historical area includes buildings that are more than 500 years old and which consequently require professional attention and constant maintenance.
The daily program of the campaign will also include lectures about the area and instructional workshops on how to clean up and remove paintings without damaging the structures, he said.
Al-Ghamdi said that scratching techniques would be used in order to remove paintings from the walls instead of using chemicals that would damage the limestone that is the principal substance used in the old buildings.
He said the municipality would also distribute, to consulates in Jeddah and to non-Arab residents, multilingual awareness and information pamphlets concerning Jeddah’s historical area.
