Raising the Standard of Communal Beauty

Care for the environment and one another: that is the message behind the 250 palm trees newly taking root along Teachers’ Avenue in Shatra, Iraq. The tree planting was carried out on November 2nd by five teams marshaled by the Organization of Southern Youth, an NGO dedicated raising environmental awareness, and as volunteers tucked each sapling into the raw, reddish soil, the grins on their faces were as fresh as the palms’ pliant fronds.

Besides deepening public commitment to environmental protection, the group aims “to spread the spirit of volunteerism among young people in Dhi Qar [Province],” and to lobby for agricultural and healthcare support from the government, says SYO head Firas Salem Yasser. In this spirit of community improvement, SYO launched a clean-up campaign in September to coincide with the start of the school year. Volunteers cleaned and decorated primary schools in Shatra, painted kindergarten walls with vivid murals and planted their schoolyards with trees.

For more info – https://www.facebook.com/pages/South-Youth-Organization/