KOTA KINABALU: A group of children from Kampung Likas here has committed themselves to taking part in the weekly beach clean-up at Likas Bay, which is their playground during weekends.
Redwan Jismin and his friends, aged 8 to 13 years, participated in a three-hour clean-up with a non-governmental organisation dubbed Trash Hero Borneo on New Year’s Day.
“My friend and I were cycling around and passing by the team, who were picking up rubbish at this bay, which is about a five-minute walk from my home.
“One of them (the organisers) called us to join her and the next thing we knew, each of us collected between two and three bags of rubbish,” he said after the activity ended at about 5.30pm.
He said the activity was quite tiring but rewarding as the area looked cleaner now.
“We will definitely come back next week to join them as we want our playground to be clean.”
Another first-time participant, Vince Perfetto, also looked forward to joining the weekly activity.
The 40-year-old tourist from the US, who arrived in Sabah on Dec 4, found out about the event via Facebook and tried to join the team the previous week.
“However, I could not locate them but (Trash Hero Borneo co-founder) Monica Chin reached out to me and asked me to join this time.
“I will be in Sabah until next month or March and join the clean-up if I am available,” he said, adding that his vacation here was to involve himself in community activities and understand the local culture.
Chin said since they started the volunteer work at Likas Bay and Tanjung Aru beaches last June, she saw positive progress both in terms of beach cleanliness and public awareness.
“Today’s cleanup is the first held on the first day of 2018. I am surprised with the good response from the public.
“This is a community-based activity to keep the beach clean and, of course, we want to create awareness as well as guide the children to protect Mother Earth, especially the ocean,” she said.
The group collected 26 bags of rubbish. There are other Trash Hero Borneo volunteers who clean up the beach on their own.
Chin expressed her gratitude to the sponsors, who donated T-shirts and food to the weekly activity.
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