WATCH: Little boy bawls about hopeless state of Bali beaches, mom promises him beach cleanup for birthday

A six-year-old boy was so distressed about the overwhelming amount of trash on Bali’s beaches that his mom promised him they could arrange a major beach cleanup to celebrate his 7th birthday. 

It’s no secret that Bali’s beaches have run amok with trash. Every year during rainy season, literally tons of trash run down the streams and rivers out to the beach and wash up to shore. 

A video of young Alex struck with grief, lamenting the tragic conditions of Bali’s dirty shores has gotten 3.5k views on Facebook since his mother, Kay Armanousa posted it to Facebook in Oct. 2016. It was Alex’s sister who set him off, telling him the beach couldn’t get clean, the post explains. 

Thankfully the video doesn’t end in hysterical crying and we don’t go down the cynical environmental rabbit hole—that would be just too depressing. 

Winning an A+ in parenting, Alex’s mom used this moment as an opportunity. 

“So what should we do with the beach?”

“If someone puts trash, we should just pick it up and clean the whole beach,” Alex answers, between tears. 

So how about they clean the beach when they go back to Bali, Armanousa asks her son. 

“When I’m seven, on my birthday,” Alex begins, suddenly perking up, conceiving the idea that his birthday party should be a beach cleanup. 

Well, Armanousa has stuck to her word and is throwing her son the party he’s dreamed of. It’s all been set for Berawa Beach on Sunday, Feb. 5—his real birthday is actually Thursday, Feb. 2, but Armanousa is hoping they can get a better turnout on the weekend. 

Armanousa has gotten help from Berawa beach bar the Naked Coconut, which has been posted as the meeting point at 3 pm. A Facebook event page has been set up for the cleanup, but Armanousa tells us they’re expecting many more people who haven’t RSVP’d yet, with children and parents from the Bali One Love Home School group, along with expected guests from other schools and members from Trash Hero, a Bali beach cleanup group. 

Armanousa, whose family came on holiday to Bali from Kansas City, Missouri, US in 2012, then decided they never wanted to leave, says her son has always been very passionate about nature and conservation. 

From age three, Alex would call the ocean “The Mermaid Kingdom” and “would rant for hours” how humans destroyed it with all the garbage, Armanousa told Coconuts Bali in a message. 

“I remember we were visiting Nusa Dua Beach when we just came to Bali, he was three-years-old at the time, and he was visibly angry to find the beach filled with plastic cups.”

So what did he do? At just three, he walked along the beach and collected garbage instead of playing in the sand with his sister, Armanousa said. Yep, that sounds just about right.

Everyone in Bali is welcome to celebrate Alex’s seventh birthday and they’re hoping to make it as big as possible, Armanousa added. 

“Alex wants to share some of his ideas on how we can permanently solve his rubbish issue together, and he wants to hear everyone’s input as well so we will have an after party discussion.

“What I hope to accomplish with this event is to show him that he is not alone in his cause, and he shouldn’t give up because unlike what his sister told him, it is NOT impossible to have clean beaches in Bali.”



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