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Teenager Ahmed Khan is hoping to make his mark in the kingdom by launching a new initiative aimed at raising awareness about Bahrain’s pollution crisis and installing a greener, recycle-friendly mentality in a nation crippled by a littering bug.
The 17 year-old St Christopher’s student founded Clean Up Bahrain (CUB) in October as an independent community organisation and is now setting his sights firmly on the future.
Ahmed, who is a Pakistani citizen but has lived in Bahrain his whole life, said: “It all started off in the summer during my school holidays. I had quite a lot of free time and I wanted to make a difference.
“At first, I was thinking of making a charity of some sort. But one day, a few relatives from abroad came to visit and my family and I were showing them around Bahrain. One of the places we visited was a beach and the amount of litter that could be seen was filthy. That’s when I first thought about making some type of community organisation that aimed to educate younger people, such as myself, about pollution.
“The reason I wanted to pursue CUB is because there aren’t many organisations such as ours here in Bahrain. It is pretty rare to see individuals coming together to fight a deep-rooted problem that many seem to ignore.
Over the past few months, I’ve started to learn more about our eco-system and have understood the importance of preserving it.” Bahrain, despite some efforts in recent years to address its contamination conundrum, still faces deeplying issues.
The kingdom was ranked the tenth-most polluted country in the world in 2014, shown by a report conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Furthermore, the total carbon dioxide emissions of Bahrain is the sixth highest per capita in the world.
Ahmed runs CUB by himself, although his friends often step in to volunteer when necessary. Initially, his goals are to raise awareness of the contamination problems in Bahrain from educating youngsters, hosting seminars and also advocating for stricter laws to be passed in relation to littering and pollution.
As for his long term plans, he wants to work closely with the companies who operate the kingdom’s bins and install more recycling receptacles for people to use, as well as attracting an investment for a full recycling plant.
Ahmed explained: “Bahrain’s atmosphere is becoming increasingly toxic, and aspects such as visual pollution is becoming more evident by the day. Breathing in air pollution can cause the loss of lung capacity and other diseases such as bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, and in some cases, cancer.”
“On an individual level, anyone in the community can help to combat these issues. I urge everyone at home to recycle materials that they may not need. General waste should be separated into metals, plastic and paper and then this can be dropped off at one of the existing recycling bins around Bahrain.
“Even more so, I’m constantly looking for support and help from businesses and organisations. This is so that CUB can help implement new bins, partner with other likeminded groups to spread more awareness and to help increase the amount of employees in CUB from funds that may be received.”
CUB has already secured some partnerships, most notably with the Brave Combat Federation. Ahmed hosted his first event at Brave 2, which took place at Khalifa Sports City on December 2, where he promoted the cause by speaking to the fans attending the fight night, giving preservation tips, increasing the awareness about the pollution, and other educational actions.
Ahmed is also a keen programmer and website designer. As reported last year in GulfWeekly, he created promotional websites and YouTube videos for famous athletes including Pakistani football star Kaleemullah Khan and fitness sensation Frank Medrano that garnered millions of hits.
Now, he’s using his prowess to reach out to companies in Bahrain to support his fight for a greener kingdom. Ahmed said: “Although CUB is being supported in terms of advertising, photography and being promoted for the work it’s doing, having a form of financial support is necessary because a project such as this really needs some form of spending so that a variety of events can be held. ”
For more information about Clean Up Bahrain, visit www.cleanupbahrain.org or email ahmed_1k@live.com
