FAZIL’S MISSION AATHIF AHMED
Copyright: Aathif Ahamed/ Al Qamar Academy Written & Illustrated By: Aathif Ahamed Produced By: Al Qamar Academy Contact: Al Qamar Academy 14, Kalyani Nagar, Opposite Journalists’ Colony Kottivakkam, Chennai 600041 Ph: 044 24511226/ 9677019226 info@alqamaracademy.in www.alqamaracademy.in All Rights Reserved. An Al Qamar Trust publication Al Qamar Academy is a micro school in Chennai, India. As an alternative school, Al Qamar focusses on inculcating curiosity, enabling real learning and developing a social conscience in children. The school constantly innovates in its pedagogical delivery. The school was founded by IIT’ian Hauroon Jamal and Aneesa Jamal. This book is an outcome of a bookmaking workshop at Al Qamar Academy followed by three one-to-one mentoring sessions for the young authors conducted by renowned conservation educator and nature photographer K. Ramnath Chandrasekhar. The storytelling module used by him during the sessions were designed for Karthavyam, an initiative on public-problem solving.
DEDICATION Dedicated to the cows, dogs, turtles and other beings that die because of eating trash.
There was a friendly boy named Fazil. One day, Fazil went to pick his cousin up from the airport. He was passing a garbage dump and saw animals eating trash.
He felt sorry for them, and he thought, “What if I was the cow?” “What if I was choking like that and died?” “How much will it pain?” “These animals give us milk! What kind of milk will we get if they are eating plastic and garbage?!
Fazil really wanted people to stop throwing trash but he had a big question, “What can we do with trash?” He booted up his computer and went to Google. He typed, “What can we do with garbage?”
A video popped up, “How to fill 2 LPG gas cylinders with a ton of garbage”. Fazil was excited. He eagerly watched the video. He thought it was a marvellous idea. But Fazil soon realized that he couldn’t do anything by himself. He needed help.
Fazil grabbed his bicycle and pedalled off to take pictures of the neighbourhood. He knew that the garbage dump used to be a beautiful marsh which was used by migratory birds as a rest stop. But not any more. It was just a wasteland full of garbage now.
A dog appeared in his way. Fazil nearly fell off his bicycle. He was shocked to see that the dog had a plastic bag in its mouth. Fazil swiftly took his phone out of his pocket and took a picture, “Who gave the mummy dog a plastic bag!� he thought to himself.
Next, he pedalled off to the beach. He saw three dead turtles, their necks torn open. Fazil looked closely and there was plastic. Fazil took out his phone and took another picture.
Fazil was coming back when he saw a cow eating trash. He took a picture of that.
When Fazil got home, he logged onto Facebook and posted all the pictures.
Fazil created an “event” on Facebook. “Come one, come all! See these animals – they are dying! They are dying because we litter! We throw plastic! How can these animals survive? Please save animals. Come to the garbage dump. We are going to protest!!” He got a lot of “likes”and many people signed up to attend.
There was a huge crowd gathered on the day of the Trash Event. Fazil got up and started speaking. “The animals here are eating this garbage. And its choking them! The plastic is choking them. The animals are eating broken pieces of glass too. It cuts their throat. And they’ll die” he continued.
“What happens if animals disappear? The web of life gets affected. We humans will also get affected. We are also animals. The Municipality has to clean the city perfectly. We should not litter. But what can we do with this garbage?� he asked all the people gathered there.
“I saw a video about recycling where you can convert garbage into LPG (liquid petroleum gas). One ton of garbage can generate enough LPG to fill two cylinders! I want our government to take up recycling too� he said in conclusion.
The people were heartbroken as they walked around the garbage dump. They really wanted to protest. They carried flags. Some people came on bikes and some people walked. They all wanted change.
A lot of other VIP’s came. There were reporters who took videos of the protest and interviewed the protesters.
The road was jammed with people. There was no way for a car or a bike to go.
The authorities at the city Municipality saw this happening and realized that they needed to do more. The Mayor himself came and said, “We will clean the city. We will make sure no one litters. People have to put garbage only in trash cans and a truck will come by every hour to clean. If anybody litters, they will be fined. We will also try to recycle the garbage to see if we can make LPG out of garbage.�
A few years later, the garbage dump changed back into a beautiful marsh. Migratory birds came back to the city – white storks, pelicans, whistling duck, lots of them! Now Fazil was really happy and the town people were happy too.
My special thanks to Ramnath Uncle-if he wasn't there I wouldn’t have written this book. Aneesa Aunty, who helped me type. Shazia Aunty, who helped me with my grammar. Nazreen Aunty-gave comments. Tariq Uncle, who gave me ideas.
NOTES Public problems are everywhere. Observe them and make a note here. Find out how you will solve them.
About the author My name is Aathif , I am studying in Al Qamar Academy in sixth grade. I am 11 years old, and I am living in Palavakkam.
It bothers Fazil when he sees trash and litter all around. Animals eating trash is something he wants to stop! What can he do?! Read on to find out how Fazil goes about trying to change his neighbourhood!