JEDDAH, 13 October 2007 — Filipino Boy and Girl Scouts in Jeddah got their “initiation” of sorts yesterday by helping clean up the city’s southern coastline of rubbish.
As early as 8 a.m., some 30 Scouts from the Philippine Sunrise International School (PSIS) joined hands with almost a hundred divers, teachers and parents in collecting mostly plastic bottles and food wrappers left by irresponsible picknickers on the rocky foreshore and walled-in sandy areas of a popular beach south of Obhur.
A group of picnicking Filipinos, who were apparently amused and slightly confused by what was going on, joined the cleanup drive when told what it was all about.
Dozens of plastic bags of rubbish were collected and later loaded onto a garbage truck for proper disposal.
“Our aim is to provide environmental awareness to the community specifically to the younger generation,” said Elmer Fuentes, president of the Filipino Scuba Divers Association (FSDA), one of the organizers of the campaign with the theme “We Care to Commit.”
“It’s an opportunity to spread the word about everyone’s responsibility of keeping the environment clean, but there is no reason not to have fun doing it,” he said.
The event was co-organized by MJ Pabicon, “Project Aware” coordinator of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) Alumni Association; Peddie Holanda, president of APO in the Western Region; Omar Salvacion, chairman and founder of the SAM Foundation; Zaraahs Catering, and PSIS Principal Ofelia Laguardia; and NESMA, which sponsored the activity.
The cleanup drive got a go-signal from the Project Aware Foundation, a non-profit international organization which supports projects with a direct benefit on the aquatic environment such as public education, grass roots conservation and enhancement projects, public awareness initiatives and volunteer-supported community activism.
Aware stands for Aquatic World Awareness Responsibility and Education.
“Just as ‘Leave no Trace’ was designed to address the whole community, so AWARE is directed specifically to people who use the sea and shore for recreation and commercial activity,” said Fuentes, an IT officer at a bank in Jeddah and a Toastmaster during his free time.
