AN environmentalist is planning to give away more than a million seeds free to anyone with a green thumb.
Bahraini Zeba Al Amir also hopes this gesture of hers will get her a mention in the Guinness World Records book.
The former agricultural engineer has turned her home in Jid Ali into a green oasis, and has been working with a team of volunteers to collect seeds of trees, vegetables and fruits.
Last October, she distributed 10,000 sachets of seeds as part of a free campaign, and now wants to surpass that number.
She currently has 40,000 packets of seeds, each containing on an average 25 seeds – making for a total of one million seeds.
“We need to have natural shade all around us and in the country and the natural way to go about it is to plant trees,” said Ms Al Amir.
“We have sent seeds to Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and other countries as part of our green initiative.”
She said she has spent more than BD20,000 over the past few months on this special project, often facing criticism from her family.
“Everybody thinks I am crazy, but I want a good environment for all.
Ms Al Amir surrounded by thousands of packet of seeds that she intends to distribute free to the public
“We started working on this initiative in October and wanted to distribute the seeds since the start of the year, but Covid-19 happened and our plans had to be put on hold.
“Because children were in the house due to the pandemic, I used them and the volunteers to pack 40,000 packets containing more than one million different seeds.”
The seeds are kept in the garden at the right temperature and away from insects.
Ms Al Amir said she was also planning to distribute the seeds during the annual Bahrain International Garden Show, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Several shopping malls she approached refused to give her free space to carry out her charitable initiative.
“I am not doing this for money and it’s not right to charge me for space in the mall when it’s purely a charity and environmental drive.
“I am now looking for sponsors to help me distribute these million seeds to people in Bahrain and the GCC.”
Feedback
The greenie said she contacted Guinness World Records to enquire if someone else holds a record of distributing a million of seeds free of cost.
However, she did not receive any positive feedback.
“I want this initiative to be registered in the Guinness World Records because this is a Bahrain campaign and I don’t think anyone has ever done this.”
“All I require is space to give away these seeds to everyone so that there is greenery all across our country.”
Ms Al Amir also runs a free training seminar on gardening and educating people about different plants on her Instagram account (Nasayem_al_bahrain).
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