By Fatema Mun
Fatema Mun is a young student from Philadelphia who flew all the way to Surat to attend Istifada Ilmiyah, the Dawoodi Bohra community’s series of educational seminars in Surat. In this blog, she shares how collective action inspired community members to observe a plastic-free event.
Every minute, nearly one million plastic water bottles are sold worldwide — most of them destined for landfills, taking centuries to decompose while releasing carbon emissions along the way. If a single bottle leaves a mark, imagine the impact of 70,000 people choosing not to use one.
A couple of months ago, during Istifadah Ilmiyah in Surat, I found myself part of not only a community of learners attending daily asbaaq (educational sessions), but also a community of doers, bound by a sense of collective responsibility.
Now in its tenth year, Istifada Ilmiyah has become a calendar event that brings together Dawoodi Bohras from across the globe. Thousands descend upon Surat in Gujarat to participate in the seminars spread out over an eventful 16 days. The itinerary is packed with sessions and activities that span across multiple venues around the city.
This year, the organisers went all out to turn sustainability into a lived practice. The prompt to #avoidplastic circulated from Burhani Foundation, my community's environmental organisation, through Whatsapp groups and social media feeds in the weeks leading up to the gathering.
For many of us, it was a reminder. For others, like myself, it became the start of a habit.
Initially, I had almost ignored the messages, having packed everything for my flight — except a bottle. At the last minute though, I tucked a small one into my bag, only to discover on arrival that it had leaked and stained the inside of my backpack. I nearly gave up on the idea altogether, until a late-night walk through Zampa Bazaar, the community’s hub in the city, led me to a small shop selling bottles. I bought one, nothing fancy, just functional, and told myself I would try to be more mindful this time.
That small decision shaped the days that followed.
A community built around the water stations
Between sessions, the paths of Zampa Bazaar, would fill with learners of all ages moving between venues. In many of these breaks we found ourselves gathered around the water cooler to pause and refresh.
Each day, more than 13,000 liters of water were served to over 70,000 attendees. For two weeks, the water coolers were vanguards against plastic pollution. They also became meeting points for conversation.
“What’s your name? Where are you from?,” someone would ask, and we’d find ourselves making friends who came from all over the world as we each filled up our reusable bottles. With the small splash of water filling our bottles, there’s a larger understanding: that small, mindful choices can ripple beyond our immediate surroundings.
One afternoon, a fellow learner admitted that she struggled to stay awake during a session. I handed her my water bottle. She took a grateful drink, and we exchanged smiles, and later, numbers.
How it began
Behind the scenes, nearly 400 mobile coolers and 11 large stationary units were deployed daily across the six zones hosting the seminars. More than 13,000 liters of water were served each day to over 70,000 attendees, replacing tens of thousands of disposable plastic bottles.
At night, coolers returned to a dedicated facility where they were washed, sanitised, and refilled by volunteers between 3–6 AM, ready for another day of service.
Why it matters
The simple inclusion of refill stations at a large-scale event didn’t just reduce waste — it reshaped behaviour. Some participants arrived prepared. Others learned along the way. Still others, like me, carried the habit home.
Our well-being is inseparable from environmental stewardship, where both thrive through shared responsibility and mindful action. The community of doers that develops from these spaces reflects these values, where learning and sustainability become one shared practice.
How do you put words into action? You shape your environment to reflect those values, where sustainability isn’t just another prose, but actively practiced. By building our spaces with these principles, we can contribute in preserving our natural environment for a more resilient future.
