The Sparks team, 4 high school students and their teacher, prove that innovation and design can flourish even in times of crisis.
The team demonstrated how young people can lead the way in tackling pressing global issues and providing a scalable solution to water pollution, while the team’s trip to… Baku Supported by Azerbaijani government And other concerned parties, which emphasizes the importance of international cooperation in empowering young change-makers.
Rodina Kassam, a secondary school English teacher at Rashaya Public School in southern Lebanon (in the region) says: Western Bekaa) who accompanied the students: “Over the past few years, we and our students have been making contributions to support the environment in Lebanon, and we participated in the climate challenge competition held this year on the sidelines of the COP 29 activities.”
Difficult journey
Rodina added: “Of course, I cannot forget the difficulties we have faced since we decided to travel, starting with the problem of obtaining a travel visa from Lebanon to Baku, Azerbaijan, as the Azerbaijani embassy in… Beirut It is closed due to current events, but through the efforts of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education and the competent authorities there, a special visa was secured for me and the four participating students.”
The teacher continued: “During the time we arrived at the airport, there were Israeli raids and shelling. We even saw fire from areas surrounding the airport. We felt very afraid, in addition to the difficulty of reaching the airport due to the collapse of roads and buildings.”
She pointed out that: “Our insistence on completing our journey with the aim of spreading the message of hope and representing Lebanon in an honorable manner in the midst of the difficult events we are experiencing was our greatest goal. We are a strong people and we have the will to continue, and we wanted to prove to the world that we are capable of creativity and innovations in the most difficult circumstances.”
Device idea
She added: “The project of the students, who are students in the third year of secondary school, came from the idea of the importance of maintaining a clean stream Litani River On which the agricultural lands through which it passes depend, it has become suffering from pollution represented by waste and plastic containers, which affects the general health of the population and leads to serious diseases.”
The project also contributes, according to Rodina, “to protecting biodiversity and marine organisms, by circling a robot-like device on the surface of the water automatically, without human intervention, to pick up waste.”
According to the parameter, the device works: “With a system of sensors, a solar energy system, and filters, the materials it is made from are safe for the environment and recycled. There is a remote control system for the device and it is activated via an application designed specifically for that.”
UAE Climate Challenge Competition
She explained that the Lebanese team is “among several teams competing to win the climate challenge competition organized by one of the Emirati companies to support the environment, sustainability and climate change. What is beautiful about the innovative project is that its experience can be generalized for use in the oceans, seas and rivers.”
Ashraf Daham, one of the four students participating in the project, spoke about “the importance of this innovation to protect the environment and living organisms if it is adopted and circulated as a national or global project, and the moral value of their participation from Lebanon in these difficult political circumstances.”
Student Andressa Abu Hajli, student Reem Akl, and student Aya Abu Latif also participated in the project, and they expressed their pride in participating in a global event such as the Conference of the Parties, especially in light of the turbulent political circumstances that Lebanon is going through.
