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AOL launches drive against plastics

A major campaign to cut down on the use of plastic carry bags was launched in Dubai last week by the local office of the International Association for Human Values (IAHV), an international NGO in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN.

The campaign, which will involve students, mostly teenagers, aims to promote the use of jute bags as an alternative to plastic carrybags under the slogan "Jute Up". Prabhakar Rao, chief operations officer in Dubai, said the blue plastic bags are particularly lethal to leatherback turtles found in Gulf waters. "Death from choking is common among turtles which gulp down the blue plastic bags mistaking them for jelly fish. This is a huge environmental issue as leatherback turtles are an endangered species," said Rao. He said plastic bags constituted non-degradable waste and when dumped in landfills it would continue to pollute the local environment for thousands of years.

Rao said the campaign would attempt to teach people the downsides of using plastic while suggesting environment-friendly alternatives like jute bags. "Volunteers will take the message to supermarkets and tell people that jute bags are recyclable and every time it is used they are saving the environment from pollution."

The project co-ordinator Meenal Patel said the anti-plastic campaign would be entirely spearheaded by students. "We are tying up with schools and environmental groups to spread the message and right now we have about 15 students," said Patel, adding that the students would have to spend only about 20 minutes of their day for spreading the message.

Patel said the campaign would get people to commit to using jute bags for a week since the use of plastic bags in UAE is very high when compared to countries in the west. "Out here people have wrong habits as they go to supermarkets without carrying even a bag. So we will be distributing wrist bands and hangers to serve as a reminder of the need to use jute bags in place of plastic," he added.

Drive to fund education of poor children in India

A handful of children in Dubai are launching a drive that will let illiterate children in India attend school making them the first generation of educated members of their families.

Three children are trying to raise the Dh900 annual school fees for up to 600 children in rural areas of India so they can attend Art of Living Foundation schools. So far by fundraising, lobbying and donating their own pocket money, the trio has already raised school fees for 65 children.

Ayesha Patel, 16, said her parents have been involved in the Art of Living for 5 or 6 years and helping children go to school is vital. The other two little lobbyists are Ayesha's younger sister, Aditi Patel, 10, and Anoush Sardesai Sadat, 7.

The children's target is to send 600 children to school but according to Madhu Bhatnagar, the Art of Living youth coordinator in Dubai, up to 1,000 children are on the waiting lists to attend one of the 48 schools in India.

"The children are from the tribal and rural areas in a section of the country where education doesn't reach them because of economic background of the families. Parents believe their children should work in the field instead of going to school and bring money in for the family," said Bhatnagar. School fees are for one academic year and include uniforms, books, food and transport. "We have the right to study and so should they. I give my pocket money every month towards this," Aditi Patel said.

Computer recycling

AOL also reconfigures old and used computers to create low configuration machines capable of simple computing tasks as part of a computer recycling project. The recycled computers are then sent to various countries around the world for use in computer literacy programmes offered by AOL.

Rao said a first batch of 100 computers donated by a local bank had already been dispatched for use in a tribal school project and another batch of 500 computers were being configured for dispatch to centres in Iraq, Oman and Sri Lanka.

Food distribution

AOL also runs a free food distribution project in Dubai and Sharjah and as part of the project volunteers collect unsold and fresh food from restaurants for free distribution among construction workers and sailors at the Dhow wharf.

The project co-ordinator in Dubai S. Balaji from the Art of Living Foundation said around 250 to 300 people were provided with lunch and dinner in Dubai through this project.

He said currently seven restaurants were providing the food which was being distributed at about four to five sites. "More restaurants have expressed willingness to provide food and we will also be extending this service to more sites in the future," he added.

Teachers of Art of Living