WUJ Kampong Clean-Up Aug '19

Hi all,

WUJ Kampong Clean-Up Aug '19 took place on August 31st, 2019 and this post will be sharing all about it!

Today was also Malaysia's 62nd National Day so I'd like to wish my readers, fans and friends from across the causeway, Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan yang ke-62!

Joining me today were 3 wonderful people whose interest and enthusiasm for Ubin's heritage were pretty intense! Although they were more experienced in other clean-ups such coastal and forest ones, I could really say their spirit for a kampong clean-up, which they have never done before, was totally admirable, too!

There were Ubin residents who joined us, too! Cik Rosmala and Sulaiman came down to play their part for keeping their beloved kampong clean. There is always a great vibe when we have residents around with me as we walked to the kampong, as they would have far more stories to share with the participants, and it's also a great opportunity for me to learn new stories, too. 

We arrived at the Malay kampong after roughly 15 minutes and since Sulaiman and Cik Rosmala were around, we thought it would be best for us to just help clean their houses up for this month. We were warmly invited into Cik Rosmala's house for us to store our bags and she also felt more than elated to share about her and her husband's tireless efforts in rebuilding their house. She also shared with us that over the past week, the couple had been working hard to renovate the final room in their house - their toilet. It was a total new upgrade for them, from a squatting toilet to a seating one and the cemented floor was raised up, too; they'll be adding the tiles and settling the plumbing soon.

We later found out that Sulaiman's house was breached. When he opened the door, he was greeted with a mess and it was only clear that the culprit were monkeys. There was soil everywhere inside the living room, a curtain got dislodged and the kitchen too was very dirty from all the monkey business. It was then that we figured out it's best we helped Sulaiman with his house first.

While Sulaiman settled the floor, the rest of us went on to assist him in removing a clutter of leaves found on his canvas ceiling. We thought that if we didn't remove it, it could be a potential mosquito breeding ground should there be water found stagnant there. We pushed, collected and placed the leaves into a garbage bag - only for us to throw these leaves away into the surrounding forest for natural decomposition.

Leaves often find their ways trapped in such spaces following storms that had a lot of gusty winds. If it coincides with heavy rain, water too could be stagnant there.

The leaves would be blown through the ventilation gaps in the roof - which also is prone for the monkeys to sneak in and out of the house if they were smart enough.

Afterwards, we proceeded to remove any other litter found outside the house and also tended to rake the leaves off the yards. Sulaiman even managed to climb up to his own roof to remove any leaves stuck on the zinc roof and tended to the damage caused by the trespassing monkeys.

Sulaiman sweeps the leaves of his roof while Cik Rosmala helps to sweep them into a pile. Talk about coordinated kampong spirit!

This time round, we focused a lot more in cleaning up their backyard and I also went ahead to help clear the path in which Sulaiman's family uses to get from his house to his paternal grandparents' house at the back - which we cleaned up last month. God Willing, we will help to reintroduce that path again and really revive the old kampong environment; one where it doesn't feel like you're trekking through a dense forest just to get from one house to the other.

Raking up the leaves by the stairs for the path towards the house at the back. Photo courtesy of Cik Rosmala

Raking up the leaves in the "drain" to achieve a very clean look for the backyard. Photo courtesy of Cik Rosmala

Some trash we commonly found were glass bottles and broken shards of zinc roofs, so it was pretty important to dispose them carefully, too. Photo courtesy of Cik Rosmala

Clearing the leaves and exposing the bare earth trail below just seemed aesthetically pleasing. Photo courtesy of Cik Rosmala

Cik Rosmala and her "caught-me-off-guard" selfie with me and the cleared path. Photo courtesy of Cik Rosmala

Despite there being just six of us, we were pretty pleased to see that quite a lot of trash were collected and removed in just one and a half hours. The amount of energy and gotong-royong spirit between the team was really admirable! So, I feel that before they get burnt out and very excited to remove as much litter as they can, it was ideal to really just wrap it up earlier as a means of thanking them for working extra hard. There's only so much six people could do, anyway.

We headed down to Pak Ahmad's Drink Stall to enjoy some nice and cooling refreshments and to also support Pak Ahmad's livelihood by patronising from his stall. Coincidentally, students from Woodlands Ring Primary School were also there for the usual Malay Language Learning Journey programmes arranged and conducted by Mr Izzat. It was then that Sulaiman also got to share a lot more about his childhood days spent on Ubin and really everyone was thoroughly engaged over a nice cooling drink.

Getting ready to see and learn a whole new side of Ubin's heritage and community!

Given that we still had the time, we also did a brief tour around the Malay kampong, too. The three participants got to learn a lot from the kampong way of life and it was and will always be a pleasure for me and even Sulaiman to share these heritage stories with new people. The tour ended with a nice view and breeze from the beach where Sulaiman spent most of his childhood adventures at.

Sulaiman shares passionately with our participants about his memories on the beach such as where he and his cousins would always swim around.

We then headed back to Cik Rosmala's house to collect our bags and called it a day, but not until we ate the snacks offered by her, of course. It was a very meaningful experience for everybody and I was just more than happy to see that everyone really had a good time on Ubin; especially in making a difference to the people here and making them and their houses feel special, remembered and taken care of.

My deepest and heartfelt appreciation to the following people for making WUJ Kampong Clean-Up Aug '19 a fun and enjoyable one:

✵✵✵

Cik Rosmala Jani

Hang Kwang Hui

Jocelyn Yeo

Lo Yi Min

Sulaiman

✵✵✵

Our next kampong clean-up will be on September 28th, 2019. Sign up for free here!

See more photos from this month's clean-up on WUJ's Facebook photo album here!

Read up on the previous clean-up here!

May Pulau Ubin thrive again, with its people in its heart.

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Come join me on Ubin as a volunteer to clean up our kampongs!

Find out more about WUJ Kampong Clean-Up!
https://wansubinjournal.blogspot.com/p/kampong-clean-up.html

Sign up immediately here! https://bit.ly/wujkcu19