UPM was one of my university choice last time as I think this university was much more related and renown in environmental field than UM despite being the top in Malaysia. Arriving at KTM Serdang alone in the morning did made me felt jumpy but the bus ride to UPM made even more excited and anticipated for this five days event. Hostel in UPM is way more comfortable, spacious and aerated than mine.
DAY 1
They kick start the event with an energetic mock, in which it get every off the chair and dance. I then learned that Aiesec has a way to engage its participants by introducing some gestures like,
Hey Agents! (Wassup)
How are you feeling today? (excellent)
How are you really feeling today? (Bloody excellent)
Etc
And then they have Ice Breaking which is called Briser la Glace in french. It is a mini game involving ball and numbers. Once a number is called out, participants from the a circle would have to rush to the centre to grab the ball. Following that, we are disseminated into our relatives group with facilitator. I am in the Fantastic Babeez and Samantha was the facilitator. While discussing on our roll call, I realize that I am giving too idealistic suggestion due to the influence from the MHS cheers. In the end, after much discussion, and after a little tiff, we came out with a much simpler one.
Next we had GO GO Running Man which is actually a station game with eight stations. The objectives of this game is besides for ice breaking among the group members, it is also meant to get a familiarize with the surrounding. Next we have Enchanted Earth program which is coordinated by the OC team. We are required to complete four stations: energy, air, water and life. My opinion on this session is it is not very effective in terms of message delivery. The game we played in the energy session - using the glittering glue on a piece of paper with a star shape and then sucking it back without any glitter left - is not very meaningful. In addition, the large number of crowd in a station and the short gap among two stations, practically drowned the game master voice.
I was surprise too that at the end of the day, there is a recap session in which facilitator would ask for our feedback in order for them to improve the following days content. I am impress because I always have good impression on any individual or organization that are willing to give ear to their participants for the event enhancement.
I did expressed my disappointed too after going through the first day and I expect the following days to be the same routine - emphasized more on fun rather than giving environmental education. I consoled myself that this conference is still worth my time by anticipating the talk by the expert and also field visit. Anyhow, I should have thanked Samantha - the girl who ain't smile a lot - because she reminded me to grab the chance to speak to any faci, oc and the expert later in order to get more inputs. Another strength I noticed on the first day is in terms of the time management and organization. Its a win-win situation I observed. The hostel is far from the conference hall, thus, it is not suitable to ask for the bus driver to and fro just to pick those delegates back for a bath, rest etc. Well, they will also cause delay and time interruption too. In addition, I think an effective event is by not releasing the participants back to their hostel and allow them to have sufficient rest. Win-win situation too for the facilitators because with the early release, they can have their post-mortem earlier.
DAY 2
Instead of being stereotypical in having a morning exercise session on everyday, a station game is also a good replacement. This session is called leadership check in. I love the way they convey the session by rapping up the message at the end of each station and also giving us a quote to keep in mind.
1st game = Thrust game. I think I do well, in that, I really let myself be relaxed while free falling down to my members.
2nd game = Human entanglement. It was conducted by Zamira and I still remember her saying that, when ever a problem arise, we are also part of the part, not the person per se. Thus, everyone should take initiative to solve it.
3rd game = Drawing with rafia string. First we were allowed to communicate to form a figure requested by Medet. Next we could not speak but only gesture. And lastly, there should not be gesture and communication at all. Medet rapped up by asking us on the reason why we could still do it despite communicating and gesturing. It really evoked me to think cause then Medet said that there is certainly some leader who is practically leading the team, that automatically made the team to unite in doing a task without being ordered etc. It displays a value called initiative.
4th game = Longest human chain. Although we did not win this game, but Afron highlighted some messages in it. We received a quote by Steve Jobs that says, ' I want to create a ding in the universe." Well, the ding means something special, something that can cause jaw-dropping expression in people. And how we can we achieve it? We should have the mindset of living everyday like it is the last day or in Chinese it is called "Huo Chu Qu". We have to be creative in using whatever we have in the environment or in any given situation and ignore what other comments by the people around us to really achieve our aim.
Overall, I really enjoyed this session particularly the last part because it gave me a strong inspiration.
Following that, prior to the beginning of each session, we have our crazy hand sign dance in the conference hall. It certainly pump up their adrenaline and also keep them awake. The next session is called "Did You Know?" in which we merged our group with the Snake team. It was an awkward moment for the members are way too passive. They are practically not responding to whatever requested by the faci. I was so sick of being the initiator each time, but I hate the silent moment even more. Thus, I tried to liven up the vibe. Still, they are not responding. I wonder whether is my leadership a faulty one. Anyway, this session is meant to educate those delegates by exposing them to the history regarding the environment. This is a good one as I too hope that it could open up their mind that from a very peace world with lush greenery, it was slowly evolved to brownish patches of dry soil due to rapid industrilisation from the 17th century.
The next one - Special Mission - is even better! We were actually required to do an environmental campaign. The good thing they teach us on how to do it prior to begin. Secondly, I obtained much input because in environment, we are always required to do campaigning for a cause. Now with this new knowledge, at least I have a guideline.
-Objective (SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timing)
-Stakeholders
-Contents
We then learned another soft skill in speaking which is called Elevator Pitch. This session is to train the delegates in delivering a speech in short period without having any jargon, body language, confident with eye contact and most importantly, hit the unique selling point. The climax of the day was the Global Village at night in which we were exposed to cultures by six international facilitators: Hong Kong, Belgium, Germany, Vietnam, China and Korea.
During the recap session, I learned another thing from Samantha. Her quotes on "you cannot be yourself all the time" sparks something in my mind. For example, when the chair was asked for sexy dance he just did it spontaneously and boldly without caring about own image. This reminds me on the Buddhist teaching, "fang xia zhi chi". We really need to put down the "wo" in every moment and incident. I realized I did not do so because I kept reminding myself of my own age, status and level of maturity. I started to shudder when I observed on youth's attitude. In another perspective, they are just being youthful, acting cheerfully and energetically and it is definitely not a big matter. But because of the awkwardness that overwhelmed me for I have long past the youthful era, I chose to shirk them all. Hahaha.....
DAY 3
Finally, something matured and much more environmental related session is here. The venue was changed to a lecture hall in which we were welcomed in with a bunch of faci cheering while songs were bombarding loud at the speakers. We began our day with dance that made all of us sweat followed by, wish box, Dr. Love and punishment. I sure do liven up the morning and cheer everyone up. We were then disseminated to respective tutorial rooms to meet the expert from energy, biodiversity, waste and water. I was in the biodiversity talk by Mr Gary from MNS. Despite poor presentation skills and general information on mangroves, I did manage to extract some fresh knowledge. For example, the reason on why fireflies would extinct with the absence of mangrove forest is actually initiated by the lost of snail life. Snail lives at mangrove trees and the slime left by it as it glides from a place to another, serves as a place for fireflies to lay their eggs. It is found that the slime by snail could provide nutrients to the fireflies' eggs. Besides that, Mr Gary also showed us two videos - one is about KL being a tourism spot (which I frankly think that it is not very related with BioD and another is on the Story of Stuff. The latter video is very interesting to me and I really hope other young delegates get the gist despite a few of them slept while snoring and played their smartphones, because the video is literally about how on Earth does the whole demolition, pollution, environmental disaster start. The biggest reason and also the root is from our leader who supposedly serve the people by slowly turns into a slave for the corporation because percentage of corps is larger than government. In addition, they have more $$$ which also says they have more power. Furthermore, we were slowly transformed into the victim of consumerism without us knowing. All items are getting cheaper and cheaper. Reason being is because the parts of the object come from various countries like for example, the plastic would be from China, the steel from Iran, etc. Lastly some selfish countries also throw their waste particularly dangerous one to other countries so that their own place is safe and clean.
Although I wish to attend talk by all the experts, I understand and somehow agree on the arrangement by Aiesec. Well most of the youth came here with the purpose to have fun and make new friends rather than aimed to obtain precious environmental knowledge. So for them to attend all four talks and site visit would certainly be boring especially when not all of them are from Science stream. Fortunately that there is Green Forum because there is when I can meet Dr Theng, the prominent figure in environment field; Adrian Teo who is somehow very familiar but I could not recall his profile; and lastly Mr Anthony from Cetdem.
The content of the forum to me is very pertinent and effective in terms of presentation, content and the vibe. It is more interactive and does not at all projects solemn mood. Some point that I could still recall from the forum:
-"I don't call myself environmentalist but environment scientist"- Dr Theng
-Questioned by Juwen on how should we answer to those skeptics on environmental awareness especially when they ask sarcastically on our paper usage when promoting about environment. Smack that. Just like what I thought, we should really be more aggressive in defending our points that we are going for sustainability but not asking people to return to stone age. If I have environmental awareness, it doesn't mean I stop buying mineral plastic water bottle. I can still drink it, but most importantly I recycle it rather than just dumping it. And that's when go green made an impact.
-The Japanese could be so environmental friendly in all aspects because they are living in a country full of disasters. That is why preservation and conservation are their priority. Once, a parent forbids her children from playing with the neighbour because they are not practicing waste segregation. The environmental move is emphasized in to such extreme.
-Environmental education must start as early as kindergarten level. In Ireland, teachers in kindergarten educate the children strongly on this issue. There is practically no dustbin in classroom because every type of waste produced like pencil sharpener's waste is thrown into the composting heaps.
I wanted so much to voice my question, again I lost the courage. However, I felt very grateful for being able to speak with Dr Theng again after lunch. Fortunately that he came to the conference hall area to look for Mr Anthony that I immediately grabbed the chance to speak with him personally. Sobasically, he was a student from UPM, studying waste management and he completed his PhD in Japan. Following that he joined SOLOW, a waste consultancy company in which he earned his living. In addition to his profile, he is also a knowledgeable and experienced rich figure that event the ministry department consulted him for advice. And more surprisingly, he isactually the initiator for the composting project in UM! Excitedly I asked whether he attended the MoU, and yea, he did! I then further and proudly introduced to him that I was the emcee for the event last year. We continued our conversation about the mutual friends we have: Jaron, Chee Guan, Dr Sumiani and Prof Aga. Without second though, I grab the chance to ask whether he take in any interns. I was really hoping for a mentor to guide me, however, I was turned down because based on his experience,
it was not convenient to have interns. He only accepted one before and that was also for a short term and also to give face the intern's father. Anyway, I was very very glad that I could speak to him that day even for a short moment.
************************************ TAKE 2 *************************************
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| He was here too! |
Our next session in the conference hall was Counting C, which depicted carbon footprint. It is another light and enjoyable session because it is very easy and I truly hope the concept is delivered to all delegates. And, at this very moment, I get to talk to Chloe and I am truly grateful that I could inspire another person by telling my story in environmental field. I enjoy her company too because she is the first lesbian friend that I have. My first impression on her is, of all delegates, seeing the presence of her with her "boyfriend" sparks some curiousity in me on their relationship and I was skeptical on this two persons on their real interest in environment too. I tried to shirk of prejudice and my suspicion of them but later when she admitted blatantly on the fact that they are lesbian, I was flabbergasted and dumbfounded at the same time. I then asked further on how did all these started. She commented that she did couple with a few straight guys before but she just couldn't get hook with them. Instead, she found the point of attraction in tomboy more. When asked about the reaction of her family, she replied that her family is certainly cool with it.
The Gallery is the next session. This Aiesec event truly leaves a mark in me because I observed that each of the session is conducted creatively and very much pertinent to the title. For example, in Counting Cs, they really make us walk while answering questions, which resembles our footsteps; while in The Gallery, we are required to come out with a poster displaying our creation which can actually solve environmental problem. This session is very unique because of all sudden, our team displays great teamwork - some of us draw the
minion, coming out with name and features of the our creation, etc. We manage to complete the task in very short period and two things crossed my mind as I recalled the moment.
1st: = I realized that my expectation and mode of the event have side tracked. I can stop anticipating this event as a serious, professional and realistic conference, in which it is a platform for all environmental avid to gather and discuss some serious solutions for environmental issue. That is upon discussion on the type of creation we want to have in the gallery, I questioned my members on the possibility for a Minion-Air to exist in this world. It really stopped their progress a moment and when Samantha interrupted wisely, I got another ah-ha moment from her words. She said that the creation could be anything and as much as we think it is
impossible, this is a wrong perception because this session is just a game, unrealistic one - we can boost about the product in any way that we want.
2nd = Anything in this world is possible.As much as I think that creating Minion-Air is ridiculous, naive and unrealistic, my skepticism is dimmed immediately when I saw a spectacle-like product by another group. Initially, I smirked on the idea because it reminded me of myself in matriculation. I felt that those kids were really immature because they produce a stupid idea. Although I did not read its content on the function to protect the environment, they boost about the features incredibly as if it really could exist in the world. I laughed silently to myself. But then again, I got a spark when I recalled that I read in the newspaper last time on the new invention - Google spectacle. Now you can actually google, on get into the cyber world using your eyes and the spectacles. It makes me thing on how much scorn, tease he get when he first proposed this idea. But when it has been realized, I bet all the skeptics vanish in the this air. Just like how Steve Jobs and his mates first dreamed on making a touch screen phone. It teaches me on no matter how ridiculous and naive an idea initially deemed, but as long as you are intrigue to take steps in realizing it, it can really be accomplished. Previously, I was in bottleneck for ideas on how to embark on the project in making recycling and E-waste projects doable and more effective, but now, I know already know how I would start it.
TV Shopping Time, is a session conducted by Samantha. Her presentation and idea are really fantastic. Again, I would like to laud on the relevance between the title and the activity. Basically, she started of with a youtube video on a commercial for burning calories. I could see that she really did her homework well and all the painstaking effort in looking for the best video to convey the gist of the activity really paid off. So this session is conducted in a way that we need to make a TV ad to impress the judge, or sort of like to promote our product which is the Minion-Air. Initially, there is very little ideas contributed and again I secretly hoping for creme de la creme, unique and bombastic one. But seeing my quiet teammates, I really have no confidence. When Shi Teng suggested an idea - which is someone coughing very terribly, and then come this Minion-Air which solves the air pollution issue - again, I was just smirking secretly and thought that the idea was way too simple and not going to leave an impression. I was secretly hoping that this idea would not be used too.
But when all my members have got no other better suggestions, we somehow compromised and worked on it. Instead of going for something complicated and wasting time again in brainstorming, I did not voice my objection and also tried my best as a leader to give opportunity for my member to shine since it was rare for Shi Teng to voice an idea too. Thus, we rehearse a couple of times and I am glad that Nicholas for being so bubbly in acting. Furthermore, I manage to make Eric to speak by being the narrator while I played a minor role. Reason being because I was sick of being the one who speaks most of the time apart from being a little shy too. Eric meanwhile who I see as someone who always tried to stay in comfort zone, have been my target. Ultimately, all of them felt that they performed well.
-Shi Teng felt satisfied seeing that the message was delivered crystal clear and straight to the point.
-Mindy played a great role as the Minion.
-And we managed to get praise from the Turtle team and the judge saying that our presentation was funny and adorable.
Overall, I am glad that at least my teammates felt good. I had a whale of time on the second Global Village. It is very relaxing and full of inputs. I see the purpose of this session as a very valuable knowledge exchange session because this is the time we get to know their cultures. However the whole emphasis has transformed into a photo-taking session and free food testing like booth. Despite all the fanaticism by those youth who
just can't stop taking pictures with international facilitators as if they are a human-sized board, I managed to learn something from Medet (Kyrgyzstan), Mujahid (Pakistan) and Hesham (Egypt).
In Kyrgyzstan, they have this game like football but players would be riding a horse with a hockey-like stick and raced for a lamb which depicts the ball. It is a cruel game and I sympathize the lamb very much. Medet who has facial features like Jackie Chan, also showcased a water tumbler made of leather (just like the one seen on TV, used in desert area).
As from Mujahid, the first faci I approached, explained pretty much about his Islamic country. There are
only four provinces (states) in Pakistan; Himalaya Mount is shared by four countries and Pakistan is one of it; the Indus Civilization originates from Pakistan with Mohenjo-Daro still being preserved - very complex labyrinth of residential houses; their national emblem is green in coloured compared with ours which consisted of four colours.
Hesham who is from Cairo Egypt has very gripping story to share - the mummy. The mummies that are found are still in good conditions and also, from the mummies, researchers concluded that human from the past civilization is very much taller - more than two metres. He also talked about the pyramid which is discovered when someone first found a door at the tip of the enormous pyramid. The discovery continues when researchers started digging the soil and sand that have covered the whole parts of the pyramid
except the tip. Basically, there are many pyramids in Egypt and the smallest one could be about 50 cm. He also claimed that the civilization in Egypt is not like how Transformer 3 depicted it. In Egypt, it is a totally normal and developed country except for the havoc and protest that are occurring now.
DAY 4
Highly anticipated day is FINALLY HERE! Trip to Cypark Resources Berhad is exhilarating, informative and life time experience. With that, my aim to attend MYC is accomplished! It is not easy to
gain access to this amazing company because you need to come from an organization, a proper one and you need to have transport because it is located at Negeri Sembilan. So, to rap up on the information I obtained:
- It is not a governmental body, thus it's financial source comes from people's investment, thus, it has been listed on Main Board of KLSE;
- This company specialized on integrated waste management services - so basically, it turns Pajam Landfill into a place for renewable energy generation
- It is a sanitary landfill in which it uses clay liner, traps methane gas for electricity generation (as much as 2MW), sludge treatment and solar panel is constructed on the landfill;
- Instead of letting a vast land wasted, they build solar panel on it which actually captures a type of electromagnetic waves from sunlight and converts to electricity before selling it to TNB - instead of trapping heat. No buildings or entities that contained human are allowed to build on top of a covered landfill lest they would collapse after decomposition of waste below it;
- There are actually four projects of solar energy in Malaysia: Perlis (1), Johor (1), Negeri Sembilan (2), and the project establishment depends largely on the state government actually;
- Solar panel will work even with the amount of sunlight like during
the dusk, it also means, solar panel does not work at all at night;
- Cypark does not opt to store solarenergy reason being is because battery is the only entity that could store
electricity. And if they opt for battery, once the life span has reached, the battery would have to be disposed and thus, another type of hazardous waste is created. In the end, TNB would convert the electric supply from solar back to fossil fuel at night for the residents. Thus, for sustainable energy, or for only solar energy being the primary source to exist is totally impossible to date because of this reason;
- Study shows that during the day, the electricity consumption is much higher than night because everyone will be resting and sleeping, and at most, the electricity will only be used for about five hours compared to during the day when air-cond, washing machine, fans etc are on;
- Solar energy project is very expensive few years back - about RM100 million - but as time goes by, solar panel has been cheaper that now the project only cost half of its original price;
- There are many companies (Sdn Bhd)
that manage solar power but due to financial insufficiency, most of the companies have to be closed and TNB would have to _____(take back) the contract that mandate the companies to continuously supply solar energy for 21 years;
- Solar panel has life span for 25 years, but it would not become a waste because the materials could then used as proofing;
- Malaysia placed second in Southeast Asia for solar energy while Thailand is the first because of great support by thegovernment;
- Cypark started this solar energy project in 2011;
- Cypark could supplies energy to about 10,000 homes;
- While the myth that only electrical engineering employees needed, Cypark basically only has three electrical engineers. Mechanical engineer is more in demand and in fact, intern from various background are welcomed.
After field visit, the event continued with This Is It which is a great exposure for delegates to improve marketting and soft skills. I really laud this move because I can see many groups are enjoying this, in fact, it has exceeded Ming Rui's expectation (the facilitator in charge). In addition, I also see Eric shines this time with his great persuading skills. I love the station in charge by Mei Jin (the faci) who portrayed as Company D. She requested four persons to present instead which is good, because of all the stations that we went through, Eric was the only one speaking. I was feeling bad and at same time other members did not have the chance to learn. From another perspective, we were so fired up to win this challenge, thus, by sending Eric as the speaker would have high chance to win (I assume).
Look, there is always two ways of thinking, either you want to win, or give this opportunity to learn. And nothing is guarantee in life. Even if I send Eric as a speaker, it doesn't mean our team can win because in the end, our team do not. So, yea. Following that, as the last game session for us to collect points, again, I would
like to laud the great planning by MYC that they rap up the whole event with a game called Pop Up. We are required to collect 16 questions by 16 different facilitators and we are made to run throughout the whole place, which I also enjoy it alot. Those 16 questions rap up everything that we learned in the past four days and finally, we managed to win the second place this time!
The fourth night ended with crazy dance and talent show from all delegates. There are singing (When I was your man), giyomi, magic show and many more. It really make me reminisce on those golden youth period where all the adolescents their very own unique talents to shine with.
DAY 5
Finally, every beginning has its end, and the final day has come. Lots of tears are shed, many great emotion gripping moments, memorable flash back of the past five days and most importantly, everyone is so busy taking precious pictures with new friends and faci and also leaving each other a snippet of message in sugar cubes. The very last session on the fifth days is also a very meaningful one because Hesham again gives another great conclusion with his style of presentation - visionary - which aims to urge youth to take action on the environment. On the last day, all the team members of bees are so shocked when our petite and shy Zin Hui finally step out of her coccoon, brace herself and step up to speak in front of everyone during sharing session. I couldn't help feeling extremely proud! Oh yeah! I always feel very grateful and proud for people who willing and bold enough to face theirbiggest fear and work to overcome it. After her inspiring move, I too step up to share to all juniors on my story. I really wish for those whoever hesitate to pursue environment field to not give up no matter what bad comments other give. Fuh...I am very glad that fulfill this wish too.
Lastly, to conclude on the things that I have learned throughout this five days::
1) Fusion of fun and environmental education in youth is very important in keeping them engaged.
2) Samantha taught me three important
lessons:
-do not limit yourself from mingling around with others particularly the organizers and experts if the participants are not of your targets
-we cannot always be ourselves
-everything is possible in this world
3) Square dance is a good engagement technique.
4) THE BIGGEST INSPIRATION is fromMinion-Air. Every creation or invention starts with a crazy, stupid and laughable idea.
5) Another type of presentation skills that one can use is to include soft music or any other type of music depending on the speech, and also by using visionary.
6) I learned lots of cultures and am grateful for able to get contact with international facilitators.
7) For an efficient event, ending the event early is a good step and try to avoid giving time for them to bath
because its a waste of time.
8) I learned methods to do campaign: objective (SMART), stakeholder and campaign.
9) I learned to be all out and use whatever that you have in your surrounding (creative thinking) to create a ding in the universe.
10) I learned that it is important to identify the expectations of different people when meeting so that you will
know what mindset you should have when working with them.
11) Lastly, I learned to not forget the past. I sneered, smirked and screamed my lungs out secretly when I saw those teenagers acting childishly and then started to avoid joining them. I kept reminding myself of my own age and acted superiorly over them. Well, thinking back, I was once like them too, and I slowly understood why my siblings and parents would detest my sampat attitude. But after this incident, I learned that I should have been moreopen minded and accept them for they are in their glory of youthfulness instead
of despising them.
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| Hardcore facilitators |
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| The very funny Mujahid! who mischievously imitates all facis. |
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| The dance master, Afron who just came back from Australia, bubbly and energetic as always. |
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| Michelle and Jivi |
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| Another comrade who studies pure biology - Vino |
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| Chloe and her les partner XD |
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| Groupmates - Zin Hui, Mindy, Nicholas, Chloe |
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| Nicholas! |
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| Pein Yuin and Li Wei - both Form 4 |
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| The very cool yet sakai Sophine! |
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| People I get to know on the first day |
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| Take two - the sakai trademark |
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