(MENAFN - Arab News) More than 500 children participated in an energy awareness contest and workshop organized by Aramco under the slogan this weekend at the Arabian Mall. The event will continue through Oct. 11.
The contest was inaugurated by Nabil Ahmed Ba'eshen, manager of Saudi Aramco Affairs Western region, and Abdullah Al-Ta'azi, director of Culture and Arts Society, Jeddah, with the presence of a number of dignitaries, parents and children.
Ba'eshen said they organized this competition in order to spread awareness among children about the principles of energy, conservation and give them the opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge.
"We want to encourage the young generation toward creativity and innovation, we took these initiatives as one of our social responsibility toward society and youth, this year we are celebrating our 30th anniversary with this competition, where we chose an educational subject to unleash the imagination of children and their creative mind," said Ba'eshen.
"We hope this idea will help children in leading to engage in research activities, study, survey and do discussions with their teachers, parents, members of their families and share their ideas and their work with colleagues and friends in a healthy environment, interactively inspire their creativity and help them find solutions to address the challenges related to energy consumption and rationalization," he added.
Ba'eshen also said their aim is to educate participants and their families about the importance of energy and to acquire information on the sources and ways to rationalize consumption.
"Educational workshops will focus on raising awareness on methods, guidance on energy efficiency, and create an environment for dialogue with the participants, and allow them to draw what they understand, drawings and participants imagination will tell us about different energy sources and there importance of preserving them, which will also help our youth to understand the importance of energy, its sources and how and why we need to preserve energy," said Ba'eshen.
Al-Ta'azi praised the efforts of Aramco in spreading awareness on energy efficiency, its importance and the best ways to use them in our daily lives.
"The involvement of prominent artists as volunteers in the workshop and their engagement in the workshop will help participants to unleash their imaginations and to express themselves with the power of colors, art and creativity," he said.
He also said the children's participation in this competition will help them to gain more confidence in themselves, in their research and creative abilities, which will necessarily show the impact on their behavior and their actions in the future.
These workshops are held in two shifts, morning from 9AM to 11AM, and evening from the 5PM to 9PM. The last date for submitting the artwork for the contest is Oct. 17.
