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Dubai: 8-year-old cleans 2km stretch of beach to celebrate his birthday

The passion towards this cause began with a school trip to Expo 2020

Published: Sat 2 Jul 2022, 12:58 PM

Updated: Sat 2 Jul 2022, 1:38 PM

  • By
  • SM Ayaz Zakir

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When most of us were sleeping in on the weekend, 8-year-old Ayaan Mendon was picking up trash from Dubai's beaches.

“It was my birthday on Tuesday, and the celebration is scheduled today,” he said. Ayaan wanted to kick-off the celebration by working towards a cause.

The passion towards this cause began with a school trip to Expo 2020 where he "learned about turtles dying by consuming plastic waste, which is a result of improper disposal of plastic waste".

The first grader at North London Collegiate School, Dubai shared his concern with his father, Saboor Ahmed, and mother, Vani Mendon.

“As Ayaan’s class name is the 'turtle', he instantly felt connected to what he learned at Expo 2020 Dubai. He understood that the plastics left by people on beaches go in the water and harm the aquatic life and especially turtles from extinction,” said Saboor Ahmed.

His parents supported him in his initiative and started with cleaning one beach in Dubai. They were at La Mer at 6 in the morning and "were shocked to see the number of plastic items lying on the beach".

“These waste items were littered by people who had come to camp at the beach a day before,” Ahmed said.

By the time it was 7am, Ayaan had collected nearly “6 kilograms of plastic including- bottles, wrappers, plastic bags, and other plastic items left by people on the beach,” and the waste was disposed of safely in the designated municipality bins.

Ayaan plans to pledge a weekly beach cleaning during his summer break. He also requests everyone to “clean behind what they have brought so it doesn't harm turtles and aquatic life”.

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