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1. The talk at SMK Jambatan Putih, Fig fruit that I found on the ground (yayy), A tarantula that I saw on a night walk, On my way to the nursery

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1. Your name, matric number, date

Name: Zakiah binti Ibrahim

Matric number: A188224

Date: 5 August 2024 - 9 August 2024

2. How is your progress?

In the second week, I have started to immerse myself in more activities carried out by the organisation. As usual, I water the plants in the nursery daily. Before arriving at Table, there was no one to care for these plants due to their busy schedules. Since I have started watering them daily, I have noticed that they look healthier now and some have started flowering as well. I also remove the parasitic plants surrounding them so that they can grow in an ideal environment.

During this week, I cleaned the lodge together with other team members as we were expecting a big number of tourists to arrive for an event which was called WCH10. This is a helping event where experts in the field would search for amphibians and reptiles usually for research or as a hobby. We went to a school, SMK Jambatan Putih, to give a talk on reptiles with the aim of educating the students of the school and raising awareness regarding the importance of conservation of wildlife. We also asked the students if they keep exotic animals as pets. One of the species we were looking for was a box turtle which one of the students there had at home. We collected the student's name and phone number to contact later and ask if he could send his turtle to us for us to release into the forest as it is an endangered species. We have yet to receive confirmation on this.

3. Points to remember from week 2

It was really fun meeting so many new people from all over the world and converse with them. I have learned various things about them and why they chose the profession of herpetologist. I loved seeing their passion when they explained about the reptiles to the students at the school, their enthusiasm when they discussed the animals that they see in the rainforest with each other and their enthusiasm to learn more. From them, I am inspired to discover more regarding the world of herpetology as well as to always be curious about things.

Education and awareness on keeping endangered animals as pets should be widely available for the public. Since many are not informed about this topic, animals are kept as pets and they are not well taken care of by the owners. This leads to a reduction of said animals in their natural habitat.

4. Your feelings & thoughts

I have further understood how every task carried out here carries a huge impact such as the talk given at the school. I noticed some students asking questions to the speakers which made me glad that they were interested in the talks. I hope that soon they will also appreciate the conservation of wildlife.

5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

Since beginning to do my tasks here, I have started to become more organised. I have quite a number of tasks, hence it is important to list them out in a spreadsheet and note my progress. This way I can keep track of all my tasks and finish them on time.

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

I felt awkward at the start when meeting so many new people at once. I felt like I could not converse with them well and we are not in the same field, we did not have many common topics to talk about but we were able to get along well. I asked them questions about their home country and explained to them about Malaysian culture, and I was fully comfortable at the end.

7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)

I plan to ask my team members about the locations of the fig trees that I should check for fruits and begin my quest. I should take pictures of the fruits and learn their species.

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Our mini lecture on reducing use of plastic to protect marine life on the 'Bis Lamer'

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Teaching and incentivizing students on the importance of coral-reef preservation, and how our daily human practices are harming the environment.

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Phase 2/Week 1 of elective posting in Mauritius - Reef Conservation Mauritius 

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Phase 2/Week 1 of elective posting in Mauritius - Reef Conservation Mauritius 

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Name: Zakiyyah Ruha Nohur

Matric number: A185407

Dates: July 29 - August 4

What I have done and points to remember from Week 1

The first week of my elective posting was very informative. My first day was spent mostly learning what the organization (Reef Conservation Mauritius) was and what activities and actions they promote throughout the island. I learned how they work to incentivize hotels and schools to become more eco-friendly by giving the institutions eco-awards. I was familiarized to how they teach the public on the importance of preserving our environment, as well as how they work to promote social change by assigning environmental responsibilities to at-risk youth. For instance, the youth are tasked to plant mangroves and learn how to snorkel. Furthermore, I was informed of the elements of our ocean that are often overlooked, but very important in preserving the marine ecosystem - this includes seagrass, mangroves and seashells.

The remaining few days of my week at Reef Conservation Mauritius was spent on a project to raise awareness on how our daily activities destroy marine life. We took a special bus to different coasts of Mauritius to teach the public about the ocean and our island. This project is known as the 'Bis Lamer' (Bus of the Beach/Ocean). We provided mini lectures and resource materials like plankton samples, visual aids and microscopy on coral structures so that they could grasp a better understanding of our wildlife. We focused on how pollution and plastic bleaches corals, kills marine life and makes its way up the food chain and consequently into our bodies, affecting our health. Overall, we highlighted how when our environment is diseased because of our activities, both our physical and mental health is affected. We targeted different demographics, including the elderly, scouts and schoolchildren. I had the experience of teaching the students about our unique coral ecosystem, the actions we do that are damaging it and what we can do to protect them. I am very grateful for the educators on the Bis Lamer; their incredible and moving descriptions of our marine ecosystem and the impacts of our activities inspired me to think about how I can live more cohesively with nature.

Within the first week too, as part of the Young Reporters for the Environment, we taught the young people of Mauritius about marine life and the water cycle, and worked together to plant mangroves as part of a conservation effort. We recognized that mangroves are a unique natural structure that prevent coastal erosion, reduce the impact of wild waves from cyclones and tsunamis, and foster our island's biodiversity.

My thoughts and feelings

Throughout my first week, I grew more worried about the lack of action of the public and lawmakers to preserve our precious ecosystem. I was also in awe of our nature and environment, and realized how important it is to protect it. Throughout the week, I also became more hopeful that things will change as, generally, the individuals we were educating were very receptive to the information and were inquisitive of ways to protect the environment and reduce their individual impacts on nature. I also learned that medical waste contributes as much as 3% of all wastes that are discharged into the oceans of Mauritius. This is severe and I started to think about ways we can bring sustainability to the hospital and healthcare system.

My difficulties and how I coped

The difficulties I faced during the first week was overcoming my anxiety when presenting newly learned information. Since this is not my field of study, I was afraid that I would impart the wrong information. However, I was given the chance to practice beforehand and I was more relaxed when conducting the mini lecture. I also learned many techniques on how to capture attention and present more effectively.

Two words to describe my elective posting experience so far

Informative and Engaging

My plan for next week

Next week will center around sample-collecting and planning events for sensitization.

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1. Your name, matric number, date

Avvinesh A/L Supramaniam,

A187965,

9/8/2024

2. How is your progress?

I am coping well, I eventually managed to increase my physical stamina. Works becoming easier due to the repetition and making my body more suitable. I am loving the work I do. The work is as always very physically demanding but the reason of me loving the work is solely because of making my emotions involve in the things I do. Each bear have a story and learning them makes me care for them more and keep continuing the work I do for them in the time I am there. Cooking wise, we are improving but also this week we have started to explore Sandakan so we managed to buy food outside especially when we are tired to cook. One of my favourite restaurant there is Dozo which is only available in Borneo. Amir and I have also started to become close with the residents in Bjorn Hala which are the interns and the staffs. We usually play card games at night and just have a casual conversation to learn about each other. I also managed to ask few questions from the founder and one of it was why they don’t breed the sun bears and the reason given was not enough space and they do have plan to breed them in the future when they have sufficient fund. We also bought enough groceries that is sufficient for the week. In week 2, we also went for hiking with a total of 8km distance to find for enrichment leaves that the sun bears like and also exploring a beautiful waterfall.

3. Points to remember from week 2!

To learn more about the names of each bear and their stories.

How much groceries are needed and the proper budget for it.

Emotional involvement in a positive way makes your work easier and life better.

4. Your feelings & thoughts

I am excited to know more and as much as I can from this Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC). I feel in peace when I am in a positive environment that everyone have a genuine purpose of their job and everything leads to the betterment of our environment. Conservation of sunbears also show light at the end of the tunnel for other animals which are in the risk of extinction as these conservationist are also educating the people on why we should not hunt and how to take care of the wildlife. Malaysian government should prioritise much more support financially into wildlife because of how unique we are as a nation and the major reason being a country rich with wildlife. The number of visitors, tourist and so on are unbelievable especially the western people just to see our wildlife. This also leads to economical growth of our nation indirectly by conserving the wildlife.

5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

Hiking. I realised that how peaceful and beautiful the forest and wildlife are while going into the forest to find for enrichment leaves. I can now practice to distress myself by going for hikes/jungle trekking and explore more of the relationship of man and the nature.

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

Cooking was always difficult for me as I am tired to do so but we bought food outside whenever we are tired and only cooked when are well rested. Otherwise, no issues.

7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)

Learn on the medical condition of the sun bears and how they manage it. Learn the sun bears name and able to differentiate them. Come up with enrichment ideas.

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Learning Mandarin Week 2! Numbers and Sentences

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Learning Mandarin Week 2! Numbers and Sentences

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Muhammad Syamil Hilman bin Rashidan

A189603

5/9/24-9/9/24

How is your progress?

This is the second week of my Mandarin elective course. During the first week, I mainly focused on learning Hanyu Pinyin to familiarize myself with Mandarin pronunciation. This week, we began studying Mandarin vocabulary and grammar, which I was eager to dive into, as it finally allowed me to start conversing in Mandarin.

Even during the first week of Hanyu Pinyin, we were introduced to simple words like "I," "you," "she/he," and others. In the second week, we started using these words to form simple sentences. When learning a new language, self-introduction is typically one of the first things you master:

Nǐ hǎo!

Wǒ jiào Syamil.

Wǒ èr shí èr suì.

Wǒ zhù zài Kajang.

Hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ!

This week, we were also introduced to numbers in Chinese, ranging from one to hundreds. Besides learning how to pronounce the numbers, I also learned how to write 1-10 in Chinese characters. As someone who has studied Japanese before, I noticed that writing 1-10 in Kanji is the same in Chinese, as Kanji is derived from Chinese logographic characters.

Points to remember from Week 2

·Pronunciation is still challenging. Even though we focused on Hanyu Pinyin and pronunciation in the first week, I still find it difficult to pronounce some words, especially with the new vocabulary I’ve learned. It’s crucial for me to keep practicing to differentiate the tones of words.

·Forming simple sentences in Mandarin is both easy and challenging. While memorizing Chinese words can make sentence construction easier, the subject-verb-noun structure helps. Although it can be tricky, following this structure makes it more manageable

·Chinese numbers are straightforward. You only need to memorize the numbers 0-10 (líng-shí). The structure is similar to Malay, where you use terms like "belas," "puluh," and "ratus" to form numbers.

Your feelings & thoughts

Learning Mandarin is both fun and exciting. Every class motivates me to learn more about this language. However, I also feel frustrated with myself. Firstly, I feel like I’m making slow progress with pronunciation. Even though I spent the first week learning the four tones, I still struggle with them. Additionally, I find it challenging to memorize the new words I’ve learned. Memorizing Chinese vocabulary would greatly help me construct sentences more easily and quickly. Despite these challenges, I am determined to complete this course and learn as much as I can in this one month.

ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

I now know how to introduce myself in Mandarin and construct simple sentences. This is a great start for incorporating Mandarin into my daily life. While I have much more to learn, I believe this is the beginning of something significant.

Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

·My Chinese pronunciation still needs improvement. Often, I’m unsure if I’m pronouncing words correctly. As I did in the first week, I refer back to the recorded lectures to match my pronunciation with the instructor's and actively participate in live classes so the instructor can correct me.

·Memorizing vocabulary and retaining new words is also challenging. Since I’m still working on improving my pronunciation, it’s harder for me to memorize new words. To cope with this, I continuously revise the study materials and quiz myself. I also find that writing words repeatedly helps me memorize them faster.

Your plan for next week (Week 3)

I will continue to learn new vocabulary and focus on constructing sentences. Since we have also learned numbers, we will start using them in daily conversations, such as during shopping. I will also continue to research common medical terms in Chinese.

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1. Your name, matric number, date

Name : Muhamad Amir Raimi Bin Anuar

Matrics number : A187952

Date : 5/8/2024-12/8/2024

2. How is your progress?

For Week 2, I am able to adapt better to the daily routine volunteering at BSBCC. My routine is as per usual with Week 1, including other new things such as making enrichment product for the sun bears! One of the enrichment that I did is stick paradox which involves picking branches of trees from the forest, spraying aroma on it, and tie it together. Highlight of the week, we went for a hike which is about 8km in total to find dried leaves for the bears as enrichments and came across a beautiful mini waterfall at the end of our hike! I am also learning how to differentiate the total of 35+ bears and tried to memorise each of their names too. One example is, there is a sun bear named Jelita, which a way to distinct it from other bears is through it’s chest mark, which resembles a chain pattern around her neck. Furthermore, I was also involved in helping other volunteers making their new enrichment, which includes finding and cutting woods, putting bolt and nut into woods, making bridge for sun bears and more!

3. Points to remember from week 2!

Self-care is crucial especially the need you have enough rest after the exhaustion from work everyday.

Try to find a way to differentiate each bears by looking at their facial features, paws and more. Aim to be able to differentiate each sun bears by the end of Week 3.

4. Your feelings & thoughts

Rejuvenating and happy. After trying to adapt to the physical demands of my daily activities, every work feels rewarding.

5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

Long distance hike

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

Same as last week which is physical fatigue. The way I cope is to have enough rest everyday and use appropriate medicines.

7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)

Continue to memorise and differentiate the sun bears

Brainstorm new enrichment project ideas

Brainstorm questions to ask BSBCC CEO, Dr Wong Siew Te

Ask more regarding the background of each sun bears along with how each of them are rescued.

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Name: Natasha Priyadarshini A/P Alexander Selvaraj

Matric's No.: A182823

Date: 12-18 July 2024

2. How is your progress?

This week, I began my cross-sectional study on the frequent illnesses/symptoms experienced by the students of the alternative schools under Borneo Komrad, which included Kampung Air Hujung, Kampung Bangau-Bangau, Teluk Layang and Tawau. As per the initial discussion with Encik Mukmin during the first week, the purpose of this study is to act as a preliminary research of the health status of the stateless community, as well as the first ever record of the health status of the students of the Alternative Schools to be presented to future visitors and NGOs who frequently drop by Borneo Komrad.

I started off by interviewing the teachers who have been with the students for years, and had taken on the role of bringing the students to the clinics when they were ill, to have an overview of the common symptoms experienced by the students. Based on the interviews, I began drafting out the Google Form as an instrument to collect the data. The Google Form was divided into the health status of the students, their families, their social health, menstrual health and sexual health, vaccination status, as well as their mental wellbeing using the DASS-21 questionnaire.

The questionnaire was distributed via their Whatsapp Groups, and the teachers were given a briefing to better understand the questionnaire, so they would be able to assist the students in answering the questionnaire.

The students of the Alternative University began their classes, and while some days I participated in some of their classes, I used that time to prepare the Google Form, while remaining on site, should the students need to go to the clinic. I had followed a teacher from Tawau and a student who were both experiencing stomach pain and diarrhea for more than 3 days to the clinic, which helped me further build rapport with the students and the teachers for them to comfortably express their ailments, which in turn made it easier to convince them to seek professional advice and medication from the clinic.

3. Points to remember from week 2!

Through the interviews with the teachers, I hypothesized that the common symptoms experienced by the students included stomach pain, heartburn, shortness of breath and rashes. Majority of the students would be treated using creams and medication from the Mini Pharmacy (which consists of an array of traditional and modern medication), while some cases would be brought to the clinic for further assessment by the doctor. There was no clear guideline for when the students would need to brought to the clinic, as well as no clear indications, dosages and age restrictions listed for the medication in the Mini Pharmacy. (This would be my rubrics for assessment and improvements to be made for the Mini Pharmacy.)

While we are used to the mode of Google Forms as an instrument for research, it was important to keep in mind that while the information I was inquiring was medically ethical, most of these questions were foreign to the students, and therefore needed further explanation as well as a promise of confidentiality of the information given to ensure truthfulness in the answers. The phrases and words used in the form had to be simple to understand, yet not straying away from the purpose of the question, which I frequently updated according to the feedback from the Alternative University students. In turn, the responses were flooding in much quicker.

In terms of escorting the students and teachers to the clinic, I was made aware of the fear of doctors experienced by a majority of the community there, culminated by years of lack of clear explanations by the doctors, breech of confidentiality in terms of their stateless status, as well as unclear consent from the patients.

4. Your feelings & thoughts

I was appreciative to be entrusted with the role of escorting the students and teachers to the clinic, but was saddened and frankly enraged to hear about the mistreatment of the community by the healthcare professionals of the clinic. As someone who has been taught and is continuously learning about the importance of informed decisions and consent, I felt a huge sense of responsibility to do as much as possible to stop the cycle of unethical treatment of the patients I was escorting, which included open communication with the students/teachers prior to going to the clinic to understand their ailment, clear consent that I would be able to speak on their behalf should there be any miscommunication between them and the doctor, as well as clarification on the treatments they would be receiving, should it be an injection (which is one thing feared most by the students) or medication.

By doing so, I was able to build a much better rapport with the community, who gratefully entrusted me with their personal information as well as began opening up more to the idea of receiving professional medical advice from the clinic. The constant communication between me and the students, plus the importance placed on what the patient had to say largely impacted their overview of receiving medical treatment promptly, as well as their willingness to answer the Google Form questionnaire, albeit the questions being more personal than they are used to.

5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

Better understanding of the importance as well as practice of open communication between the patient and the doctor using laymen terms, in their preferred language, which was one of my struggles during the first week.

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

One major challenge was formulating a plan to disseminate the Google Form to the students, while taking into account the lack of exposure the students had towards Google Forms as well as the usage of handphones to access the forms, which not all the students possessed. As I had multiple responsibilities throughout this week and the weeks to come, I was unable to visit each school to assist them in filling up the questionnaire. However, by discussing with the other teachers during our weekly meeting “Sesi Membagi (Membangun Idea)”, we came up with a solution for the teachers to go through the form prior to dissemination, to extend the deadline to complete the form which allowed the teachers more time to assist the students in filling up the form using their personal devices as well as the school laptops, and to frequently check up on the status of completed forms through Whatsapp to maintain a stream of communication should any student/teacher have trouble understanding the form.

Another difficulty was juggling between my roles of following the students to the clinic, completing my draft for the Google Form, while still wanting to participate in the classes of the Alternative University students. The teachers on site really helped me work through my priorities, offering me the freedom of planning out my own schedule to be able to experience as much as possible during my internship, with the promise that all my tasks would be completed before I leave. This allowed me to complete my tasks according to my own plan for the week, while still experiencing the classes as well as being able to follow the teachers and students to experience the nightlife of Semporna.

7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)

Plan for next week would include beginning my analysis of the data collected from the Google Form once a minimum of 30 responses has been received. I am also tasked to lead a discussion during the next meeting to recommend future activities for the students according to my analysis. As the data from the analysis would include common symptoms experienced by the students, I will begin drafting my plan for further improvement of the Mini Pharmacy according to the data received, which I hope to complete within the next week.

I will also be visiting a neighbouring Alternative School called Iskul Di Pulau Omadal to gain insight on their very own Pusat Kesihatan Komuniti as well as the type of education offered to the stateless community of Pulau Omadal.

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Assalamualaikum & hi everyone

Congratulations you are already in the Week 2 of EP journey!

Please write, upload pictures/videos (lots of them please!), and share your journey with your friends. Like & comment on others sharing too!

1. Your name, matric number, date

2. How is your progress?

3. Points to remember from week 2!

4. Your feelings & thoughts

5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)