EDU Group for Education and Awareness Raising
It was apparent from the start of the Clean Sharm Initiative that rising environmental awareness is a crucial step in reaching the envisioned goals.
Governmental laws and a new, modern garbage collecting company are not enough to change the sad state. Tons of plastic bags and other garbage still litter streets and desert for many kilometers.
Well informed and knowledgeable citizens, business owners and entrepreneurs are crucial to the attempt of making Sharm el Sheikh one of the leading green cities in the world.
The EDU group started to prepare programs for environmental education and awareness rising.
Activate your creative inclination and contribute with your ideas and enthusiasm to the success of a cleaner Sharm.
People of all nationalities, ideas and genre are more than welcome. Join one of the existing workshop groups or start your own project.
Current project:
School Training Programme
Clean Sharm's Edu group launched their innovative school training programme in April 2010. Composed of three fun filled workshop sessions, the aim of the project is to educate children and to heighten their awareness around environmental issues and recycling.
Sharm College's spacious and airy Auditorium was the location of these inaugural lectures and workshops, the first two of which are designed for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade students, (ages 7-9years) and the final session for 5th, 6th and 7th graders, (9-13years).
Juta opened the initial power point presentation, entitled 'Nature's Recyclers', introducing the younger children to cartoon mushrooms, fungi, lichen, beetles and microbes. She explained how each of these characters have a job within nature to clean up and make use of (or recycle), dead plants, animals and insects. By relating these friendly characters with photographs of decomposing trees and compost and the general decaying of nature, the children gained a recognition and understanding of how Nature re-uses it's resources.
Following a lively discussion about materials which nature cannot recycle and the benefits of re-using rather than disposing of items, the children went to tables, each of which were divided by red tape; they were then asked to sort out bags of picnic equipment into good and bad - re-usable and disposable. The enthusiasm and thought which went into the practical exercise gives me hope that this future generation will be more thoughtful and enlightened picnickers and visitors to nature.
A week later, the same age group watched as Meher, an 8 year old Bedouin boy, demonstrated his invention - a car made entirely out of garbage - built from tuna cans, hose pipe, wire, wood and pieces of rubber. The children excitedly, formed small groups at tables which were equipped with all the necessary materials to construct their own cars. Several design faults and re-builds later, each group had a vehicle ready to zigzag around the cones on one of the five race tracks set up across the auditorium. The high spirited Grand Prix which followed was a poignant reminder of the disposable society we live in and how, with a little thought and imagination there can always be another way....
Kirsten took over on the third week, with an informative and in-depth power point presentation about the water cycle. The older students participated animatedly, both asking and answering questions as Kirsten followed the circle of water from the underground, (confined source) through to the formation of clouds and rain and looking at how pollution can become introduced into the system.
For the practical part of this session, the pupils re-grouped in the school cafeteria where this time each table was supplied with all the ingredients required to make an edible 'aquifer'. Students were left to carry out the written instructions.
Spirits were high as they chopped up chocolate and dropped pieces into jars (gravel and earth); added soda (water); smoothed over a layer of Nutella and ice cream to seal the system (clay soil), then topped it with cake sprinkles (surface layer). Finally more soda mixed with food colouring (pollution) is added. We observed how the 'pollution' sat on the top but when a straw (drill or well) was inserted and sucked (pumped), the pollution dispersed throughout the whole system. This was without a doubt a memorable and fun learning exercise and a particularly popular experiment, which I suspect was largely due to the edible result.
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Contact: info@cleansharm.org or umsamaka@web.de