Normally, broken car parts, discarded plastic piping, and ruined fishing rods are not the kinds of things that bring people together, but on a beautiful, cool winter morning in Kuwait, they did.

As part of an ABCK-AmCham Kuwait-organized beach cleanup activity, 30 volunteers from six companies, including 14 GE staff members, gathered in a safe, socially distanced way at a beach in Kuwait City, where they collected 46 bags of trash that included plastic bottles, bottle caps, plastic lighters, and other refuse.

“For decades, GE has been a committed partner to Kuwait, to our customers and to the local community,” said Sama Hassan, who works for GE Aviation and leads GE Volunteers in Kuwait. “We continually look for opportunities to give back to the community, and this beach cleanup was a great way to do that.”

Most of the GE volunteers participating at the event are based at the GE Kuwait Technology Center (GEKTC) – a first-of-its-kind facility in Kuwait that serves the power sector with tooling, training, and research and development centers. The event was the first in-person community service activity they had attended together since the start of the pandemic.

“A lot of us from the GEKTC team haven’t seen each other for what seemed like forever, so it was emotional to see everybody, and at the same time fun because we were reunited with a purpose – especially since time spent caring for our environment is always time well spent,” said Amani Ramadhan, Lead Education Specialist for GE Gas Power at the GEKTC.

Paola de la Roche – Executive Director of the ABCK said the area in the Kuwait Free Trade Zone near the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah Crossway was chosen because it is a popular feeding and resting area for migratory birds.

“Helping to clean up this beach is part of the Chamber’s sustainability commitment,” Paola said. “It’s important to do our part to keep the shoreline clean to enable better migration and conservation of threatened species.”

The GE employees gathered after the cleanup at GEKTC for a socially distanced brunch to catch up with colleagues.

“With people working different shifts at GEKTC or in different locations as a result of the pandemic, it was great to be able to sit and chat and meet with each other at the brunch,” said Amani Ramadhan.

Established in 2016, GEKTC supports GE Gas Power customers in the region and internationally with theoretical and hands-on training on heavy-duty gas turbines, aeroderivative gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, and more.

The facility also serves as a tooling center helping to deliver timely and quick maintenance and service support to Gas Power customers. As well, it houses a research and development, trouble-shooting and simulation laboratory, with expertise in failure analysis and material life assessment, oil and fuel testing, controls simulation, and monitoring and diagnostics.

Read more stories about how GE supports communities in Kuwait and across the Middle East and North Africa.