By Majd Othman
KUWAIT: As part of a national initiative that aims to beautify Kuwait and turn it into a greener place, a number of Kuwaiti youths launched a national awareness campaign under the title "With our hands, we change it” on Saturday at Mesayel Roundabout in the presence of the initiators of the idea — the Mobader Volunteer Team, Founder of Sidr Nature Reserve Obaid Al-Shemmari, environmental activists Mariam Jarkhi, Mahmoud Bugammaz and media volunteer Yousef Al-Omran.
Bugammaz said the campaign aims to support areas that suffer from a lack of greenery, pointing out Mesayel is one of the areas that needs to be beautified with several kinds of plants, not only on roundabouts, but inner streets as well. Bugammaz said this is the first campaign with such a large level of participation from the environmental sector, in cooperation with residents of the area.
Bugammaz added the campaign is financed by Hessah Al-Farsi, who is the main sponsor of this initiative, adding governmental cooperation with the initiative is excellent. The initiative was marked by the participation of a large number of residents of the area, especially children who were very excited to be part of the tree-planting campaign in their area.
Head of Mobader Volunteer Team Reem Jassem Al-Shemmari said this initiative came about due to efforts by citizens and volunteers. "This campaign was launched because clearly, we live in a high temperature zone, and greening helps a lot in reducing the temperature. The most important goal of this initiative is that youths must participate in improving the country,” she said. "Despite the big role by the government to greenify the country, individuals should also play an essential part in taking care of their country,” she added.
Founder of Sidr Nature Reserve Obaid Al-Shemmari told Kuwait Times the initiative aims to turn Mesayel into a model area with a beautiful environment like other areas in Kuwait, "As Kuwaiti initiators, our main goal is to take care of our country. We want to build a good legacy in all areas of the country,” he said. Shemmari said it’s important to choose the best trees that not only beautify the area, but also improve air purity. He added this initiative tried to use innovative means to water plants — through solar energy, hoping this could be implemented in all other areas of Kuwait.