Students from Valley International School, Hariri Bahaa School
and American Community School Hike the World!
At the Araya Forest in Lebanon!
Subject: The Hike
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 02:56:04 -0500

On March 2nd, three of my friends ( Mohamed, Rola and Alaa) and I went on a hike to Arraya. Miss Heba and Miss Claudia went with us.
First, when we reached there, we thought that the forest was great, but after a while, our guides told us that the place is not as perfect as it looks. They explained that some factories are dumping their chemical wastes into a stream passing through the forest.

As we continued walking we saw a sign which says:
"No Hunting", but that was funny since we saw empty shells on the road, which meant that some hunters were murdering the birds. Do you know what that means? The hunters were harming the equilibrium of the forest ecosystem.
Then our guides showed us some chemical wastes dumped into the stream and told us that bacteria feeds on these wastes. We were so disappointed since we are destroying such a beautiful place and we hope we can clean it up one day.
Zeina

More photos at http://www.emetni.com/arayapictures/FrameSet.htm
Date: March 2, 2002
Organization: YouthCaN Lebanon
Place: Araya, Lebanon

Students were introduced to Araya Forest through a hike that lasted for 2.30 hrs. Araya is 20 minutes away from Beirut. The weather was warm during that day. Students from Valley International School, Eastwood, Hariri Bahaa School and the American Community School joined the Hike. Meeting point was the Science Museum, downtown Beirut and from there all buses departed heading to Araya.
Our students were exposed to an area that had a polluted river, they were asked to come up with solutions to this problem. It got to my attention that even if we stop the water from flowing in the river for a period of 10 yrs, the bacteria will still survive. We all enjoyed the hike with the scenary around us and at the same time all students got to see polluted air over Beirut, the chemical effects on the nature, and the effect of humans on nature. Each group got a small microscopic jar for collecting and analyzing some insects. Students were thrilled with the collection they had.

We are looking forward to the Hike on March 23 at Jouiite, North Lebanon.

Lina Halabi
Lebanon
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