Preservation of Redang Beach, Sekinchan on 12 April 2015

Beaches are public resources held in the public trust which provide affordable recreational access available to everyone. As human activities and development in coastal areas increase, preservation of these areas have become significant. Therefore, we had decided to take the initiative to conduct a cleaning activity with the public at the Redang Beach of Sekinchan on 12 April 2015. The purpose of doing so is not only to preserve the surrounding environment of the beach, but also to raise awareness of the locals as well as the visitors to keep priority on the environment hygiene.

Early in the morning, we departed to the Redang Beach. When we arrived at the destination, we were surprised as the surrounding environment was worse than what we had expected. Redang Beach, a famous tourist spot was then full of trashes and that was the time when we realized how important our role will be. 

Rubbish was thrown BESIDE the dustbins and not INTO the dustbins.

The authorities of Redang Beach had turned up and gave support on our activity.

The primary importance of keeping the beach clean is to prevent health problem as trash and organic debris will attract vermin and other diseases carrying vector which lead to severe consequence. At the same time, plastic trashes which had been thrown into the beach possess the risk to endanger the wildlife due to pollution. Besides, beach hygienic is significant for aesthetic purpose so as to keep the natural landscape looking pristine. From economic aspect, local small business will be indirectly affected when the natural landscape is being disrupted and dirty beach means lesser visitors. Furthermore, clean beach provides a recreational place for the social to leisure their time with water activities.

Without any hesitation, we started by hanging up the banner that we had prepared earlier so as to attract public’s concern on our activity and to be a part of us to clean the beach.

 

Without wasting any time, we started off by distributing the garbage bags and plastic gloves among all of us and at the same time, we invited the public to have a helping hand with us. Many of tourists and residents showed enthusiasm and boldly geared up with the tools and started picking up the rubbish with us.

As the activity continued, the crowd turned bigger to join hands!

Despite the hot sun, each of us worked selflessly and passionately simply because we love our nature and our one and only Mother Earth. What we have done might seem little to you but what we recognized was the Earth has the rights to live without pollution too.

After that, we gathered all the rubbishes collected at a side while showing our appreciation for their commitment along the activity. The beach had become much cleaner than before after what we had done. This could not be done without all of us joining hands together. Not forgetting the publics who had joined us! You guys are TRULY AWESOME!!

The whole activity ended in the evening. The moment when each of us worked hard hand in hand was truly touching. All of us understand that whether we live on a beach or hundreds of miles from the coastline, we all have a profound stake in a healthy ocean that is free of trashes.

Trashes on the beautiful beaches are disgusting. Plastic trashes are harmful. It can endanger the wildlife as birds might get caught on plastic can holders and turtles might choke on the sludge from garbage. All animals could get cut on sharp things. They might eat something they should not and get sick or even die. Littering on beaches is mean. They can kill animals and even plants.

Protecting the beach from pollution and healing the bay will ensure a clean environment for the animals and plants to stay and grow healthily. We believe that we had successfully raised the awareness of the society in the importance of environmental cleanliness. 

Helping out in Methodist Church Sekinchan on 11 April 2015

We prepared ourselves with some cleaning tools at 9.00am in the morning after joining the launching of the Reading Bus Club in Yoke Kuan Secondary School. We arrived at our destination at around 9.30am which is half an hour earlier than the time scheduled for preparation. Pastor Chan, the person in charge of the church welcomed us with open hands. After a short ice breaking session with each other, Pastor Chan gave us a briefing on the cleaning job we are going to do for the day.

The weather in the morning was calm and windy, where we start our work mainly on removing the grass and weeds around the garden in the church. Wild grass and weeds will affects the growth of the flower around and the important plant especially fruit plant. We did gain our knowledge about gardening stuff, some species of the plants, and how to take care of them. It is great to get to expose to these knowledge where we usually do not have the opportunity to learn in our daily lives especially in University.

It was great that Pastor Chan joined us on the gardening stuff, which also reduced our loads. The weeds and the grass removed were placed under a big tree to be collected and discarded soon. The area around the church had not been cleaned up for 2 weeks, due to insufficient of workers and volunteers. This was an opportunity for us to join the community in the church to help up the church on cleaning the compound.

Although the first gardening compound is small, but we did took around 2 hours to finish up the job, which due to lacking of technique. It is not an easy stuff to clean up the area because some parts of the area is dangerous due to the torn found in some plants, especially the cactus and trees. The sun shone redundantly during the afternoon and it had the hottest temperature at the moment. Our group members did shows their hard work and commitment to finish their job although it is a hot day, especially the girls in our group. 

After 12 in the afternoon, Pastor Chan brought us to Restaurant Chie Shang for lunch. We had Chicken rice and honey chrysanthemum tea as our lunch. The chicken drumstick served was crispy as everyone was satisfied with it, while the ice-honey chrysanthemum tea was a suitable choice where it can reduce our thirst and cool down our body. Pastor Chan is so kind that she treat us so well for the lunch.

After the lunch, we went back to the church and started to collect the dried leaves around the compound. Lacking of cleaning at the moment of gathering the dried leaves, made the rest of the member to collect the removed wild grass and weeds and discard them in a nylon bag. This is where our teamwork comes in. Working stuff were separate equally so that everyone can work as a team to increase our efficiency. During the process, we found various kinds of animals such as snails, bugs, birds and butterflies around the compound, which means that the environment around the area is healthy.

There is actually a kindergarten located beside the church and within the inside closed area. By doing cleaning stuff and gardening, we are not just cleaning up and beautifying the church compound, but also creating a comfort and safety zone around the compound for the kids. Playground equipment such as swings is also available at the area nearby the kindergarten. We cleaned the equipment and arranged it nicely as it can be lifted.

After all the hard works, finally we managed to clean up the compound, and arranged the objects in a good manner when the sun set. We are really satisfied with our work with the Pastor Chan and the community at the Church, besides gaining a lot of knowledge of various fields. Volunteering to help the others is indeed the right thing to do. Being able to engage to the community despite the differences in our beliefs is indeed a blessing. We will surely pay a visit here again in the future!

Group photo before leaving

About Sekinchan Methodist Church

Methodist Church Sekinchan

 Fifty years ago, Sekinchan was a remote and desolate place with more than three thousand residents, mostly living with farming, fishing, and a few are engaged in industry and commerce. In 1953, the government implemented an emergency decree, due to the fear where Communist Party will harass the residents and make them suffer. So the government called all the villagers who in paddy fields to concentrated in the fence range, and the village was established. These including urban area, village B and C, while outside area including village A and fishing village.

The church was not yet establish in Sekinchan at that time. There are some Christian villagers such as iron Yan Sheng Tie, Li Bi Yu couple, Pan Gang Feng couple, Li Yuan Qing couple and Xie Lu couple joint to do family worship. These early Christian believers working together and pray for the Father to establish Sekinchan church. Soon, there are a part of migrants from Kuala Selangor came to Sekinchan are Christians. So the number of Sunday worship gradually increased. Believers pray concerted efforts hardly, with the hope that the church will soon be build up so that believers have a fixed place of worship.Thank the grace of God the Father, when Chen Sicheng pastor actively followed the work of development around the sermon, beside there also some female pastor like have a Wan Qing Xiu sisters, Jiang Bao Lin couples, Tan Mei Jin are also very concerned about the Sekinchan’s believers. They always have contact with Chen Si Cheng pastor and once in a while, he came to Sekinchan to make movies and open air preaching the gospel work. Hence the gospel is preached and attracted a lot of people. Chen Sicheng think that Sekinchan should have a church. So, he asked the village’s committee chairman, Han Ying Shi pastor to discuss matters related to build up the church. Thanks to Chen Si Cheng, Ms Wan Qing Xiu and others effort to went around Kuala Lumpur and Klang to raise funds, while on the other hand they asked the government for land.

Finally in August 31, 1956, a twenty thousand chapel was built up and as the priest house. Since then, believers have a fixed place to worship. By the late seventies, the roof of wooden chapel has leaked, so they decided to rebuild it. In 1978, under the leadership of Pastor, they established the church building committee. There is a ten-year plan to rebuild the church in. Within this decade, church members donate their money and also worked tirelessly to raise funds. Within a few years, a total of more than one hundred thousand dollars was used as the Building Fund. Since the new church construction costs thirty thousand dollars but the church building fund only about one hundred thousand dollar, and there are still far away for construction.

Construction Committee Chairman Tim Chen Chan brother, committees and brothers and sisters went around Malaysia to raise donation, which also assisted by Mr. Pan Cai Jian in Kuala Lumpur, and finally they raised enough for building fund.

The Reading Bus Program in SMJK Yoke Kuan on 11 April 2015

It is indeed a great opportunity for us to join the launching of the Reading Bus Program in Yoke Kuan Secondary School. We always believe that every child should be given the opportunity to enjoy school and life through reading. Thus, when the deputy headmaster invited us to join this event, we agreed to it without any hesitation.

The event started at 7.30 am in the morning. It started off by the speech of the headmistress of Yoke Kuan Secondary School. She said that the Reading Bus Club is a very good opportunity for all the students to start reading and to improve their English level. The event was then continued with the speech by Mr Cheli Nadarajah, the starter of the Reading Bus Club. He mentioned that he is grateful that the Reading Bus Club can be launched in the one and only secondary school in Sekinchan. He also mentioned that he wished to launch this club in West Malaysia in the future so that every child gets to enjoy their school life and gets to know things happening around us through reading. 

A speech by Mr Cheli Nadarajah, the starter of the Reading Bus Club

The event continued as the students from the Interact Club of Sunway University who are also a part this Reading Bus Club organized an interactive session with the students in Yoke Kuan Secondary School to get closer to them and also to introduce them this reading program.

The president and vice president of the Interact Club started the session by holding an ice-breaking session. Students were divided into three groups and games were carried out. At first, the students were quite awkward but thanks to the friendly president and vice president, they seemed to blend well with the students from Sunway University. The whole process was carried out in English and it helped the students whom always communicate in Chinese to get familiar with it.

One of the members, Ying Xuan joining in for the ice-breaking session

Around 9.00am, we had to leave the school as we had to go to the church for the cleaning job.

Although it was a sudden plan to join this event, but it was indeed a great honour as the deputy headmaster of the school invited us to join this event. It was a shame that our participation in this event was short, but we had learnt that reading can be really fun and not burdening at all if you do it the right way. We had also learnt that knowledge is power. Through reading, we can obtain unlimited amount of knowledge. We sincerely hope that this Reading Bus Club can be spread to more rural areas in whole Malaysia to help out the underprivileged children so that every single child has the chance to read. =D

About The Reading Bus Club in Malaysia

The Reading Bus Club Kuala Lumpur, a registered non-governmental organisation in Malaysia, aims to reach out to underprivileged children to enhance their English language competency through activities such as English Language seminars, camps and reading competitions. The Reading Bus Club is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team, Mr Cheli Nadarajah, 54 and Kong Lai Mei, 53, English teachers themselves. They have been running the non-profit mobile library in parts of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Cambodia since 2009.

While the vehicle they operate from is actually a van, instead of a bus, Mr Cheli and Ms Kong fill it with toolboxes, planks and boxes of books and hit the road every weekend headed for schools on Kuala Lumpur’s outskirts or villages outside the city.

There, the couple and several volunteers stack expandable shelves with books to create a mobile library that can accommodate as many as 400 books for children to borrow, and set up mini libraries - a colourful shelf filled with new English story books for children ages five to 12 - at the back of classrooms. Each mini library - funded by sponsors that are sometimes volunteers as well - costs around RM200, while books are donated by publisher friends passionate about their cause.

In the heart of the city, Ms Quek Sue Yian, a director of conglomerate Hong Leong's charity foundation and daughter of Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan, is doing her part too. She has mobilised children’s authors to publish books for underprivileged youngsters and plans to raise hundreds of thousands of ringgit to be channelled to setting up community libraries across the country.

The bubbly 39-year-old started her personal project just a year and half ago and has already published 10 children books - mostly by Malaysian authors writing in English - and helped opened three community libraries at shelters around the city and Rompin, Pahang. Her goal is to set up 100 community libraries in the country eventually.

Ms Quek also has a 12-hour reading program called The Wisdom Club coming up. Volunteers will teach children about lessons on universal values from various books.

These Malaysians’ mission is to encourage school children to read in English as the country’s educational system grapples with falling standards. They are also trying to buck the trend of dying reading habits among children, as their interest in books has given way to computer games and other online diversions.

The team of The Reading Bus Club

Official Facebook Page : The Reading Bus Club

A day in SMJK Yoke Kuan Sekinchan on 10 April 2015

A Motivation Talk 

On the first day in Sekinchan, we woke up early in the morning to get prepared to give a motivation talk in SMJK Yoke Kuan. All of us wore the same T-shirt so that we looked uniform and at the same time to show the bonding between Mechanical Engineering students. We departed from one of our members’ house at 8.30 am so that we had enough time to discuss with the Headmaster of SMJK Yoke Kuan about the talk we were going to give. We had prepared a slide show on the day before we went to SMJK Yoke Kuan.

We arrived at the school at around 8.45am. We were led by a teacher to a meeting room where we were going to give our talk. Two Form 5 classes were selected to involve in this talk. 

After setting up all the laptop, we began our talk. The topic of our talk is “Which way to go after SPM”. We started our talk by questioning the Form 5 students about their thought of their future and also their ambitions. We found out that most of the students never think about what to do in their future just like what we did before. However, we know how important it is for secondary school students to have the knowledge on the pathway to higher educational institutes. Hence, we were there to provide them some information on it and hope that they can start planning for their future from now.

We had introduced and explained to them some ways to go after SPM such as A-levels, STPM, Matriculation and others. Since our group members were from both STPM and Matriculation, we also talked about how we went through our foundation studies. Besides, some of the members who are from Matriculations shared their experiences in the one year of Matriculation which is very different from the life at home to give those who are interested to go for Matriculation a preview. Of course, we talked about how to apply for Matriculation as well as university to give them a vision about that.

After that, we also shared our method to study and also gave them some advices for the preparation for their coming SPM papers. The students enjoyed this talk and some of them had jotted down what we had spoken. Then, they had given chance to ask us questions about university stuff as well as matriculation and STPM lives. We can see how interested they were when they questioned about university life. We were relieved as our talk was not boring to them. The talk ended at 1.00pm and we took some group photos with the students to mark the end of our talk.

Decoration for 21^st century learning classroom

We had a simple lunch at a restaurant and the food was nice.

After our lunch, we went back to SMJK Yoke Kuan as we were assigned to help one of the Form 2 classes to decorate their classroom. According to our interview with one of the deputy headmaster, the class chosen is actually one of the classes that involved in the project PPD Sabak Bernam. This concept of this project is “21^st century learning classroom” and the teaching & learning progress is fully focused on the students. Through this project, the teaching & learning process will be conducted in group work, which means that the students will study in a group, brainstorm and discuss about the topic given by the teacher while the teachers will only assist them at a side. The questions given by the teacher have no correct answers and this can help the students to think outside the box and unleash their creativities. This project also emphasizes the high level thinking skill (KBAT-Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi) and the students are encouraged to present their idea through iThink mind map. After that, the students are required to present their topic in the class.

 Besides that, E-learning also introduced in SMJK Yoke Kuan through this project. This is to help the students to have a better understanding by the help of the IT devices. Although the government had provided 82 netbooks to the school, but there are still lack of some devices such as LCD, projector and speakers to set up the e-learning. Hence, the netbooks provided only can use in the computer laboratory but no in the classroom. As a consequences, the effectiveness of the e-learning will drop down. Hence, the school authorities were tried to request for more sponsors of IT devices from the government to reach the objectives of the e-learning.

Furthermore, the environment of the classroom also one of the important issues in this project PPD to make a successful changes from the old teaching and learning style. The environment of the classroom should be joyful and conducive for study. Hence, the teacher requested us to help the Form 2 class to decorate their classroom.

The materials had prepared by the teacher and we had been told about the concept and what to do for the decoration of the classroom. First, we helped and taught the students to decorate their table by using the colourful wrapping papers and also the transparent plastic to cover the graffiti on the table. We had communicated with the students while helping them to understand more about their and also their thought about this program. We realized that most of them can enjoy their learning process more in this program.

Besides, we also decorated the walls of the classroom as well as the notice boards. The walls were decorated by using the colour papers and a quote was written on the paper to inspire and motivate those students.

“Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.”

The notice board also decorated by our creativities. The notice board was then pasted with the notes of their subject and also the guides to do the iThink mind map. A study corner was prepared for them to read book during their free time so that they can gain extra knowledge besides from the learning process in classroom. The students can exchange their books among each other so that everyone can have the chance to read more and learn more.

Since this class is chosen to run under the Project PPD, the students from this class are comprised of 3 different races and their academic performances are at moderate level so that they can see their improvement through this program. Despite their different mother tongues, beliefs and religions, they are able to mix well with each other as a family. This is indeed a very important element in our multiracial country.

According to the interview with the deputy headmaster, the positive feedback was achieved from the previous Form 1 class which is currently the Form 2 class. The students of the class had changed from a passive behavior to a more active one and they have the courage to ask question during class. Besides, the overall result of the class also had improved. The school authorities hope that can run this project in more classes in the future.

At 5.30pm, we had done our decoration and the class is now more conducive for study and also with a joyful environment.

We had an interview session with the deputy headmaster after that. She told us more information about this project. Besides, we also exchanged experience on our university life and the deputy headmaster gave us some advices in studies. We enjoyed this interview session very much as we gained a lot from it.

Spending time in Yoke Kuan Secondary School recalls all the memories we had in our own secondary schools. Although all of us are from different places, but because of one same goal, we are all here in University of Malaya and are able to work in a team to engage to the society. How blessed are we. Helping in decorating the classroom to provide a joyful and conducive environment for the students is something that cannot be done without the love and care for our juniors. We really do hope that with this project can help these students to excel not only in academics but also their cognitive development.

Seeing all the students reminds us of ourselves in our secondary schools. We were once ignorant and had no idea what to do after our SPM too. However, we are now standing in front of these students giving them advises on their way after SPM and sharing our experiences with them. How nostalgic. What we did might seem effortless to the others but we do believe that someday, these students will grow up as the future of our country.

About SMJK Yoke Kuan, Sekinchan

SMJK Yoke Kuan was established officially on the 31^st of May 1959 with 24 students and 4 teachers from SJK(C) Yoke Kuan. The success in establishing this school have to be attribute to the local leaders, Mr. Fu Gin and his friends. The phase one of the construction of the building of the school was started since 1960. In 1991, the construction ended with the building of classrooms KBSM.

The school is now known as Yoke Kuan Secondary School (SMJK Yoke Kuan). Being the only secondary school in Sekinchan, the school had been educating the future leaders of our country for the past 42 years.
The current principal is Madam Chang Keng Ling. The vision of the school is to have high quality education, educated citizen and a peaceful country whereas the mission of the school is to achieve the aspiration of the country by sustaining the high quality of the education system to develop the potential of each student.

The current principal is Madam Chang Keng Ling. The vision of the school is to have high quality education, educated citizen and a peaceful country whereas the mission of the school is to achieve the aspiration of the country by sustaining the high quality of the education system to develop the potential of each student.

Objectives of the school

·          Develop self in an integrated manner from religious aspect, dignity, ethical, discipline, jauntiness, competitive by prioritize unity, civilized caring, civilized industry and preferred mental and physical strength.

·          By preferred humanistic values and appreciate self-esteem, whole school population on the other hand able to community building and intact and stable country based on principles and vision as was stated.

·          Hence, which matter was stated could lead to positive and effective change through mentality, way of acting and way of seeing the result.

SMJK Yoke Kuan has a very good achievement in academic as well as in sports game such as volleyball team.