By: Arret Jatta
Fuji Janga Foundation, supported by Tubman Network and Kindesi Gambia, engaged children on how to preserve their environment by not littering it and how to recycle the waste in their environment into something useful.
The activity, held on Sunday, 3rd November, started at Kotu Stream road with an interactive and educative storytelling and proceeded to the Brufut Beach, where the children were taken with their families to see first-hand where most of the waste ends up and how it affects the beach and the ecosystem.
The children were also engaged in interactive sessions like face painting, transforming waste into creative arts and live music.
Amal Abbass, the Co-founder of Fuji Janga and Managing Director of Tubman Network and the Founder of Kindezi Gambia, said the activity was aimed at supporting the children and teachingthem about how to take care of nature.
“So, we’re hoping a lot of arts and culture preservation as well as the encouragement of biodiversity in order to make sure that we protect and save the land of our ancestors and embrace our future,” she explained.
She also mentioned that they are working on collaborating with other countries and to facilitate scholarship programs between Germany and The Gambia.
She pointed out that one of the things “the children are learning is not to throw the plastic bottles but to recycle them very consciously in a creative manner”.
The Director of Fuji Janga Foundation, Modou Sanu Jallow, said the project aimed at promoting cleanliness of the environment.
“Most of the time, we see too much littering in our communities. Plastics and batteries will pollute the soil and disturb the ecosystem and this is what we want to show the children as they are the next generation and future leaders so that they will be able to have the understanding and the knowledge to be able to protect the ecosystem in the future and grow with the knowledge,” he explained.
Kefilwe Catherine Kosan, the monitoring and evaluation and communication specialist also noted that the activity was about educating children in an authentic way to help them protect their heritage, their culture but also issues that the world is facing, especially when it comes to climate change issues and safeguarding the environment.
“I’m really impressed with how all the children have observed what they have learned today and what they’re actually doing to their environment and negative effects that it will have on them,” she stated.