Feature: Palestinian man turns solid wastes into impressive artworks

Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-07 20:54:44|Editor: Wang Yamei
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by Mohammed Abu Alrob, Saud Abu Ramadan

RAMALLAH, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Ayman Abed Rabbo, a Palestinian in his mid-40s from the village of Quosin near the West Bank city of Nablus, is a talented man, who can turn solid wastes into artworks.

With a knife in his hand, Abed Rabbo sat on the floor to turn a used car tire into brightly colored chair.

"Turning solid wastes into artistic pieces is a clear message to every Palestinian to keep a good and healthy environment," said Abed Rabbo, who spends several hours every day recycling used black tires into masterpieces, including toys, which impress the residents of the village.

The Palestinian man told Xinhua that he is so glad to do this kind of art. "It is necessary to get rid of solid wastes and recycle it into a proper shape to create a safe, healthy and beautiful environment in our society."

Abed Rabbo's talent started when he was a teenager.

He said that the hard-living situation he passed through during his childhood was the incentive that obliged him to make some toys that he couldn't afford.

Abed Rabbo was imprisoned for 14 years in an Israeli jail, where he developed his talent. During the years he spent in jail, he invested the time in his talent. He turned solid olive seeds into rosaries, fruit seeds into keys hanger, and empty metal toothpaste packs into the shape of the golden Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.

After he was released in 2010, he became a professional trainer in turning wastes into pieces of art.

He said he makes the artworks and toys by using the remnants of tractors, bulldozers, empty metal cans and bottles of soft drinks and soda water.

Abed Rabbo now works at the Palestinian Ministry of Environmental Affairs. He opened training courses at high schools, universities, local organizations and government institutions.

"During these training courses ... we used 13,000 plastic bottles and 20,000 used black tires," said Abed Rabbo, who doesn't get paid for it and all what he does "is voluntary."

The aim of training people in the West Bank, according to the man, "is to contribute to building up a generation that respects the environment and helps rescue it from destruction."

Adallah al-Atira, head of the Palestinian Environmental Authority, told Xinhua that her office has highly appreciated Abed Rabbo's creative talent that serves the environment by turning the solid wastes into art.

"His main goal was to protect the Palestinian environment from being damaged," she said.

The daily amounts of solid wastes in the Palestinian territories are 2,551 tons, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

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