Report by Dalal Sharar
KUWAIT, Aug 11 (KUNA) -- Youth are a major segment in every society, contributing to its growth and development and the State of Kuwait has many examples of youth who were active locally and internationally.
KUNA spotlights Kuwaiti youth examples on the occasion of the International Youth Day, which falls on August 12. It is annually organized by the UN to recognize the input that young people make in education, community development, environmental groups, volunteering for different social projects.
Trash Hero Kuwait, a non-profit organization, was an example of social responsibility carried out by the youth in the State of Kuwait.
Established in 2020 under the umbrella of Environmental Voluntary Foundation, Trash Hero Kuwait is the first team in the Arab region to conduct year-long weekly cleaning campaigns as well as spreading environmental awareness via social media platforms.
"The team seeks to make Kuwait a leader in environmental field ... which required further efforts," team leader Yusuf Al-Shatti said.
He lamented lack of strict penalties against those who damage the environment whether individuals or companies.
Dr. Fatma Al-Musawi, founder of Spread the Passion, said her platform aimed at organizing voluntary initiatives. She added she began with her two children and expanded to a big team consisting of more than 12,000 people with an age range between 16 and 24 years old.
Spread the Passion, she said, gave the volunteers a chance to acquire skills and develop them with the major objective of making them responsible and serving their community.
Spread the Passion, added Al-Musawi, initiated partnerships with the Amiri Diwan, Youth Public Authority, Ministry of State for Youth, Kuwait-based UN House, Embassies and the Gates Foundation.
The NGO, she went on, focused in 2022 on raising awareness on post-Covid psychological health as well as sustainability, climate change and pollution.
Maryam Al-Essa, founder of Refood that was launched in 2014, said the project aimed at preventing waste and preserving environment, and has been cooperating with different stake-holders to achieve its objectives.
She said 90 percent of the volunteers were youth and they were contributing three times weekly to achieve Refood objectives.
She added Refood, which was classified by Mohammad bin Rashed Foundation as of 30 hope-maker groups, succeeded in collecting information of more than 4,500 needy families and saved over 500 tons of food and consuming materials from being dumped into waste.
Al-Essa said however that Covid-19 pandemic affected financial resources of Refood and caused sharp decline in number of volunteers.
Ghala Al-Enezi, a Kuwaiti youth who won prizes in a speech and poetry in Arabic language, the world best programer award and winning the second place in the innovation competition in Dubai Expo 2020.
Engineer Jenan Al-Shehab registered a US patent in electro-magnetic cells and won several accolades at Taiwan's Kaohsiung International Invention and Design EXPO (KIDE) 2020, and has opened a workshop in industrial zone in Fahaheel area. (end) ds.bs