The team planting miswak (a teeth-cleaning twig).
Doha: The Global Social Leaders Competition is an international event where 10,000 students from over 100 countries across the globe create projects to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Swiss International School entered two teams who reached the international semi-finals and won Impact and Resilience awards for their projects to end world hunger and celebrate the biodiversity in Qatar.
The Hummingbird team collaborated with Quranic Gardens and Qatar Museums to create a medical garden that celebrates our Islamic heritage. The students grow Sidra, Miswak, Olives, Frankincense and other plants that were mentioned by the prophet and they have started to teach their community about the importance of preserving our biodiversity.
On October 20, The Hummingbird team was selected to present their project at “International World Values Day” which was hosted in London. The students shared their passion for preserving the environment in Qatar to an international audience and they were the first children’s group to advocate for preserving biodiversity in the middle east.
The students were also the first group to discuss the specific role of Islam in preserving biodiversity and they taught the audience about traditional organic farming techniques that are still practiced by Qataris today as well as sharing verses about black cumin and other Quranic cures.
Holly Cowley from Futures Foundation (UK) mentioned that the students’ presentation was “thorough” and that the audience was “blown away” by the children’s passion for Qatari culture and the environment.
