CMWU Organizes a Drawing Competition Titled "Gaza 2020" for Khan Younis Schools

Under the Title "Gaza 2020", CMWU, in Cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Organizes a Drawing Competition at the Level of Khan Younis Governorate's Schools

CMWU - Gaza

The Media and Public Awareness Department at CMWU, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the Culture and Free Thought Association, and the advocacy team of the Emergency Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Coalition, organized, on the sidelines of World Water Day activities and events, a drawing competition titled "Gaza 2020," in which forty male and female students from the primary and preparatory stages in ten schools at the level of Khan Younis governorate and centers affiliated with the Culture and Free Thought Association participated, with the Ministry of Education represented in this activity by Mr. Majed Al-Qudra, Head of the School Health Department at the West Khan Younis Directorate, and Mr. Shahda Mohsen, Head of the School Health Department at the East Khan Younis Directorate.

The activity was opened by Suhair Al-Bayoumi, public awareness officer at CMWU, who welcomed the guests and participants, praising the educational institution's role and its continuous cooperation in supporting activities that would raise and strengthen students' awareness of the importance of water and ways to preserve it, and explained that the activity aims to raise students' awareness of the water problems the Gaza Strip suffers from and encourage them to contribute to raising their peers' awareness on conserving water and rationalizing its consumption. Al-Bayoumi also thanked the Nawwar Center for hosting the participants and cooperating to make the activity a success, and wished everyone success.

Eng. Hatem Abu Al-Teif, Director of CMWU for the Khan Younis area, spoke at the beginning of the activity, welcoming the male and female students and the group of supervising teachers from the schools, and thanked all the parties participating in organizing the activity, and addressed in his remarks the problems the water sector suffers from, from quantity shortages and high salinity levels, pointing to the efforts made by CMWU to improve water supplies for residents and preserve the groundwater aquifer, and the most important projects implemented by the Utility, such as the desalination project and the sewage project for Khan Younis governorate.

Al-Teif stressed the importance of raising residents' awareness of water problems and the necessity of preserving it for future generations, and noted the improper behaviors by residents in dealing with water, from encroaching on networks and wasting water, and also affirmed the importance of students' role in raising awareness inside and outside schools to contribute to solving water problems.

For his part, Mr. Majed Al-Qudra spoke about the importance of awareness and educational programs, especially on the topic of water, and praised the level of cooperation between the Ministry of Education and local, government, and international institutions in highlighting water problems through several methods so they reach all students, as they are the largest segment of society, in order to strengthen sound values and behaviors towards conserving water in both quantity and quality.

After a short interactive session between the students participating in the competition and Mr. Ghassan Al-Salahi from Abdullah Siyam Basic Boys' School, the male and female students began drawing artistic paintings expressing their vision of the water reality and what it will become in 2020 if the situation continues to deteriorate.

At the end of the activity, five winners of the best drawings were selected and given encouragement prizes, with other prizes given to all participants in the competition, and certificates of thanks and appreciation were presented to the participating schools and the Culture and Free Thought Association for hosting and contributing to the success of the activity.