According to The National, a group of female students from Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates took a trip to meet up with the Emirati ambassador to the UK, Mansoor Abulhoul, as part of a fact-finding trip to learn more about sustainability. They spent last weekend at Loughborough University and attended a special workshop on sustainability, then travelled to London to meet with his excellency Abulhoul.
Leen Albejawi, an animator and a student at Zayed University who is travelling for the first time without her family, told The National that “we learned about the life-cycle of products and got to create very simple prototypes of sustainable packaging..some students even created a coffee cup that can later be used to plant a seed.” Leen is a very passionate person especially when it comes to creating better and cheaper access to sustainable products in the Emirates.
“A lot of people are taking a sustainable approach and creating hipster cafes where a cup of coffee costs a lot of money. That’s not sustainable for a lot of people as we don’t all earn that much money,” Leen added.
During the meeting with the ambassador, the students were able to share their ideas and the lessons they’ve learned on this trip with him. They felt supported by how he approached the cultural and design exchange they had undertaken.
The UK was actually only one part of the UAE’s cultural exchange. Soon the group will head to Tokyo to take part in more workshops to learn how the country is preparing to host the 2020 Olympics!