JEDDAH: A 16-year-old female Saudi student won $3,000 after beating 120 other contestants from across the Arab world in a science competition held recently in Alexandria, Egypt.
"Deep down inside I knew that I was going to win because I knew that my discovery was brilliant and is going to help many people from different parts of the world," said Fatima Abdul Hakim, who won the Intel Science Competition Arab World organized by the Egyptian Science Age Society (SAS) in collaboration with Intel Corporation.
Abdul Hakim's winning invention was a "Super Swab" to help with skin abrasion, especially in the inner thighs when there is friction between skin. She came up with the idea after noticing Umrah and Haj pilgrims, dressed in Ihram, suffering from skin burns and abrasions in the area of their inner thighs.
"Most creams used to heal their skin contains cortisone which might cause them skin burns and affect them on the long term. I choose calendula officinalis because it's a natural plant that is easy to find and helps to kill microbes... it also does not affect sweaty skin that is exposed to sun and heat," said Abdul Hakim, who is from Madinah.
"My invention took me almost a year to finish. I have tested the swab on 200 people; I counted the number of microbes in each one, noticing that it was a very small number and there were no side effects on any of the volunteers," she added.
Over 120 students from 10 Arab countries -- including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco -- participated in the competition. There were prizes totaling $20,000 on offer and scholarships from top Arab universities.
Saudi entrants came second in the best-specialized project category, fourth and fifth place for a competition in behavioral sciences, and fourth in the best project category.
The competition was held to foster young and local inventors, and discover local talent. "We want to help young talent and inspire young people and young minds to make innovations and give them the opportunity to be exposed to the public and market their names and ideas," said Abdulaziz Al-Noghaither, general manager of Intel in the Kingdom.
"All students who had the chance to compete in this international competition are winners because even if they didn't receive a price, they gained experience and they will add this experience in their CVs and they even might get offers from companies," he added.
Intel Corporation is the Arabic version of Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which is held annually in the United States.
© Arab News 2010
