SJIIM’s Year 8 students recently returned from their first service trip in and around the East Coast of West Malaysia from the 15th to 19th of October 2018. The objective of the trip was to be involved in projects that would benefit the local community, schools and the surrounding environment.
The week consisted of making friends with pupils from SK Seri Geliga which included sharing gifts and playing team games with them. The students then painted a mural reading ‘Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve’ in Malay and referenced the value of ‘empathy’ on the school wall, so the pupils would remember their time spent with the SJIIM students.
In addition to this, SJIIM students also helped clean, tidy, organise and paint the houses in the local community around the school. Besides that, they also built furniture for their use and distributed donations from a recent donation drive to be shared amongst these local people who were extremely grateful for the generosity shown.
Our Year 8 students having a great time during the seedling mission at the mangrove area
In the middle of the week, the students went on a replant seedling mission in a mangrove area and a river tour. The major activity was the cleansing of a beach of plastic and other rubbish that washed up from the sea. These rubbish were collected in bin liners and subsequently tipped out and categorised. The data from these rubbish were collected and sent to an American company to aid the understanding of the type of rubbish that exist in the sea today. This will aid in the understanding of its negative effects and the steps needed to address it. The activity concluded with the students watching baby turtles hatch for the first time which they had the opportunity to name before releasing them into the ocean.
A group picture after the beach cleansing activity
The final day of the trip saw students enjoying some relaxation time at the Bukit Gambang water park and creating their own batik prints. Throughout the week, students played team games in the resort swimming pool, paddled in the sea, played volleyball and football on the beach and had time to get to know each other and the teachers better.
The objective of the service trip was definitely achieved. All the students contributed time, effort and enthusiasm to the projects they were involved in and came away feeling humbled and grateful to see the different aspects of Malaysian life.
-Written by Laura Walton, Head of Year 8
