Leverkusen, Germany — For promoting environmental education among special children, Filipino student Mary Jade Gabanes won the Bayer Young Environmental Leader Award Thursday night here (early yesterday in Manila) along with three young environmentalists from around the world.
The 19-year-old Special Education major at the West Visayas State University won the top prize with delegates from Kenya, Indonesia and Ecuador.
Winners will receive project support from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and global company Bayer, who have been jointly implementing the youth program since 1998.
Gabanes hopes to inspire others to take better care of the environment through showing that children with special needs could do the same despite their limitations.
“If you see special children doing something for the environment, wouldn’t we take a second at ourselves and ask what we can do?,” said Gabanes in an interview moments after her win here.
A panel of judges composed of representatives from UNEP and Bayer picked the winning projects out of 18 top country winners from across Asia, South America and Africa.
Gabanes’ project engages special children aged 12 to 22 in environment-themed sessions, from arts and crafts using recycled materials to performing environmental songs, at a locally supported special education center in her native Iloilo City.
The articulate and animated Gabanes impressed judges at final presentations on Wednesday, responding to questions about her project without pause.
When one judge asked how she coped with the known challenges of teaching special children, Gabanes said: “I’ve never had a problem. I’ve always had a soft spot for special children.”
Bayer flew in winning environmental envoys from around the world for an exposure trip around Germany, engaging them in discussions on trends in environment protection, experiments in Bayer laboratories and site visits around Cologne and Leverkusen. /INQUIRER