Giving back to the community: Creating awareness about civic sense
Students clean up Trail 3, suggest community service as part of education curriculum.
ISLAMABAD:
Armed with gloves and plastic bags, bus loads of excited youngsters poured onto the foothill of Trail 3 on the Margalla Hills on Sunday morning.
Almost 300 undergraduate students had gathered as alumni under the Global Undergraduate Exchange Students programme. Under the programme — initiated by the US embassy — over 300 undergraduate students from across Pakistan spent a semester abroad at various American universities.
The cleanup campaign on Trail 3 was the idea of the students themselves, based on an epiphany abroad. As one student aptly put it, “We have not learnt to give back, community service should be an integral part of our education system.”
The excited youngsters had travelled from all over Pakistan to be a part of the three-day alumni get together which involved interactive workshops, trainings and finally, the cleanup campaign.
Sidrah Zahir, a student of Fatima Jinnah Women University, spoke of her exchange experience and the cleanup campaign as a “refreshing learning experience”.
Talal Raza from the University of the Punjab spent a semester at South East Community College in a small farming town in Nebraska. He had much to say about the programme and the cleanup initiative. “I was impressed by the technology and safety measures farmers used with harvesting and livestock, and I was required to do 20 hours of community service, which I had never done in my life.”
He ended up doing 30 hours as he “enjoyed the experience immensely”.
Raza added, “I feel every youngster here should be encouraged to do community service as it really helps you grow as a person. This cleanup campaign is a tiny step but it is a start we all wanted to take and continue in our lives.”
The students divided themselves into two groups for the trail, the fast and the slow group. A friendly competition was held between the two to see which group managed to pick out most trash and reach the top. Some students could be seen starting right at the base as they quickly picked up strewn crisps packets and empty plastic bottles.
“There’s a dire need for some civic sense amongst our people!” exclaimed one student, as she hurriedly sealed a full trash bag and opened up another. After a long and eventful trek, the now-thirsty and ravenous students were awarded with lunch at Pir Sohawa.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2012.
Armed with gloves and plastic bags, bus loads of excited youngsters poured onto the foothill of Trail 3 on the Margalla Hills on Sunday morning.
Almost 300 undergraduate students had gathered as alumni under the Global Undergraduate Exchange Students programme. Under the programme — initiated by the US embassy — over 300 undergraduate students from across Pakistan spent a semester abroad at various American universities.
The cleanup campaign on Trail 3 was the idea of the students themselves, based on an epiphany abroad. As one student aptly put it, “We have not learnt to give back, community service should be an integral part of our education system.”
The excited youngsters had travelled from all over Pakistan to be a part of the three-day alumni get together which involved interactive workshops, trainings and finally, the cleanup campaign.
Sidrah Zahir, a student of Fatima Jinnah Women University, spoke of her exchange experience and the cleanup campaign as a “refreshing learning experience”.
Talal Raza from the University of the Punjab spent a semester at South East Community College in a small farming town in Nebraska. He had much to say about the programme and the cleanup initiative. “I was impressed by the technology and safety measures farmers used with harvesting and livestock, and I was required to do 20 hours of community service, which I had never done in my life.”
He ended up doing 30 hours as he “enjoyed the experience immensely”.
Raza added, “I feel every youngster here should be encouraged to do community service as it really helps you grow as a person. This cleanup campaign is a tiny step but it is a start we all wanted to take and continue in our lives.”
The students divided themselves into two groups for the trail, the fast and the slow group. A friendly competition was held between the two to see which group managed to pick out most trash and reach the top. Some students could be seen starting right at the base as they quickly picked up strewn crisps packets and empty plastic bottles.
“There’s a dire need for some civic sense amongst our people!” exclaimed one student, as she hurriedly sealed a full trash bag and opened up another. After a long and eventful trek, the now-thirsty and ravenous students were awarded with lunch at Pir Sohawa.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2012.