Green Brigade is the group formed in early 2012 (http://www.facebook.com/groups/371497349573555/) to spread environmental awareness in the society. It recently held it's first Mega-event which had the Drawing, Essay and Quiz Competitions for kids and adults. It was a grand success as many people and children (more than 100 people) turned up to celebrate the ?Green Brigade awareness Day? with lots of fun activities.

The day started off at 8:30 am with parents arriving half an hour early to get used to the place (and the weather). The only scene in an otherwise empty 1000 Palm Garden (at Buhaira corniche, Sharjah) was parents with their children constantly reminding their children of what to draw, what not to ,what to write, what not to... The theme for the drawing competition was ?Clean UAE, Green UAE?. It took us lots of time to register everyone. Some people who had just come to picnic on a lazy Friday morning, seeing our brilliant and creative minds working out, themselves rushed back to their homes, grabbed a poster, some pencils and ideas and got ready for registration at 9:30!! Ultimately, when the drawing competition ended, the judges admitted having a tough time deciding who were the best. The winners were really happy with their work being appreciated heavily. And the parents were equally happy and delighted.

Then began the Essay competition and it was filled 8-year-olds to 50-year-olds penning down their thoughts on what they could do to save the environment (The theme was ?My thoughts and actions to save environment?). Again, the judge was totally bamboozled as to who to give the top marks to. And the Quiz competition had a frenzy of parents and their children running about searching for answers to the tough (they were easy!!) questions. There were exceptional performances by some small children and parents.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, at the award ceremony, the children and parents were presented with mugs which had the logo of the Green Brigade on it. The day ended by celebrating the Environment Awareness Day by cleaning up whatever mess we had made. 

In last 6 months, Green Brigade membership has grown upto 56 people and the success of this programme only strengthens the fact that we can do a lot for the community with our small individual resources with dedication to work for the cause.

Selected drawings and writings by the people/kids will be published in Green Brigade's forthcoming 2^nd newsletter ?Green Vision? in January-13. Few of these will be shared in my next report.

Take care, stay well

Unmesh