Health/Environment Discussion with Children of SOS Village
The morning of 23 July was an extraordinary one for 25 kids of the Azerbaijani SOS Children’s Village, in the Ahmedly district of the capital, that began with a conversation about creating a safe and healthy environment for children.
“This is a remarkable experience for children deprived of parental care” said the head of the SOS Children’s Village Gulara Humbatova. “For many, this is the first encounter with anyone from a world organization and a unique experience to be part of the broader awareness campaign conducted by the UN Information Office (UNO) in Baku” she added.
While talking about environmental issues and obstacles, Public Information Associate Vafa Safarli encouraged children to look for possible solutions for a greener, cleaner country, noting that “each of you has a role to play”.
Explaining that 2011 was the International Year of Forests, the children learned about the importance of environmental sustainability and its impact on health and peoples’ daily life. Afterwards, they watched a short film “International Year of Forest” and reflected upon the role and influence each individual has on the environment.
Sabit Zeyniyev of the environmental company Tamiz Shahar provided information on waste management as “the process of extracting value from waste”. In addition to bringing examples from his own organization, he encouraged kids to take part in the broader ecology movement. “Think globally, act locally” Zeyniyev said.
The interaction with participants was further reinforced by distributing an entertaining, educational quiz on health and environment. Sharing their answers, the participants engaged in an interesting discussion on the topic.
Towards the end of the event, during a Q&A session the audience expressed its gratitude for the information provided at the workshop and was interested in attending further sessions on different topics.