Lion of Kabul recruited for 'clean and green' campaign

By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Kabul

Keep it clean! Shir Sultan is a big hit with Kabul children

Once known as a city of gardens and abundant fruits, Kabul is fighting hard to maintain even a basic level of cleanliness, among its many other problems. Kabul municipality has now recruited a popular cartoon character to encourage children to keep the city clean and green.

Shir Sultan, or the Lion King, has been visiting schools in the Afghan capital to spread the message.

Needless to say, he is a big hit among 400 schoolchildren sitting in the playground of Abdul Ali Mustaghni school in the west of the city, where cheers and claps greet the cartoon character's every move.

The synthetic lion hits it off instantly with his audience when he asks them the question: "Who is a friend of Kabul?"

Hundreds of supportive hands go up in the air. Some children even stand up to express their commitment to the cause.

"I am going to be sending my son, Sher Bachcha, to this school," a pleased Shir Sultan announces to the further delight of his audience.

By pledging to be friends of Kabul, the children join the city's "Cleaning and Greening" campaign, and in so doing agree to be agents of change.
Decrepit sewer systems
The US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded campaign was launched last year by Kabul's mayor, Muhammad Yunus Nawandish.

The idea is to encourage students to adopt hygienic habits and help civic authorities keep the city clean and green.

Kabul municipality faces huge challenges in its campaign to keep the city to keep the city clean

 

While Shir Sultan is the mascot of the campaign other tactics are also used to generate interest.

Colouring and story books are used to tell the pupils of the best ways to dispose of rubbish, the importance of washing hands and how to water trees.

Last year alone, Shir Sultan was directly introduced to more than 25,000 children, where he distributed about 180,000 story and colour books.

It is a campaign where there is no shortage of challenges - first and foremost Kabul does not have proper sewer systems.

Furthermore, the city's civic system is mostly in decay, eaten up by years of war and the neglect of the authorities.

At the same time the city's rapid pace of construction in recent years has robbed Kabul of much of its green cover, leaving its population of five million with few green spaces.

But the authorities say that things have improved in recent years.

"My aim is to have a dust-free Kabul," says Mayor Nawandish, never a man to avoid the toughest of challenges.

Officials at Kabul municipality hope that initiatives like the USAID one will ultimately help in restoring the city to its past glories.

Farzad says that he is eager to know how to keep his home and school clean.

 

"We are educating children so that they spread the word in their families, among their friends." says Mohammad Sadiq Sediqi of Kabul municipality.

Because the scale of the challenge is so immense, it is easy to be sceptical about the prospects of such challenges ever succeeding.

But the enthusiasm among the children at the Abdul Ali Mustaghni school is infectious.

"What brings you here?" I ask Farzad, a sixth-grade student.

"I am here to listen and learn," he says with a glint in his eyes. "I want to learn how to keep my home, my school and my city clean."

Lion Fights for Clean and Green Kabul

The Kabul Municipality and USAID launch the “Cleaning and Greening” campaign in the capital.

30 April 2012 | Kabul, Afghanistan

Through Shir Sultan’s adventures in coloring books, billboards and posters, the children of Kabul learn how to plant trees and keep the city clean and beautiful for years to come.

“Shir Sultan” (Lion King) marked his first International Earth Day event on the 22nd of April at the International School of Kabul where H.E. Mayor Nowandish introduced the children’s mascot and distributed coloring books that tell the story of how garbage is collected by the municipality. The Mayor also hailed the role children play in communicating the need for a cleaner and greener city for their future. The event marked the start of USAID-funded “Cleaning and Greening Campaign” in Kabul.
Kabul is Afghanistan’s window to the world, a rapidly growing city of five million with major challenges in city service provision and in maintaining a clean environment and green public space, especially after decades of war. The Kabul Municipality and USAID launched the “Cleaning and Greening Campaign” to animate both young and old to get their hands dirty and help make Kabul a cleaner and greener city for all. Through his adventures, “Shir Sultan” will teach the children of Kabul how to plant trees and keep the city clean and beautiful for years to come.
During the next few months while the campaign is ongoing children will follow “Shir Sultan’s” adventures as he teaches them how to properly dispose of garbage in the dumpster, wash their hands daily after touching trash, and how to help their parents plant and water trees. Not only does “Shir Sultan” appear in coloring books, he will soon be showing up on billboards, posters, and on TV to pass his message to the children of Kabul.
“Shir Sultan” and all brochures, posters, fliers and billboards for this campaign are being designed, developed and produced by local Afghan companies.