MM May 2018: Sg Congkak Clean-up
Thursday, 17 May 2018
Written by Marble Tan
"Group photo of the day. Thank you so much for making this event a success."
Everyone loves a clean place and that was exactly what we set out to do over the weekend of 5th May 2018. Raleigh Kuala Lumpur (RKL) with the support of the Selangor Government and Tourism Malaysia and the help of 50 enthusiastic volunteers, have completed a river clean-up at Sungai Congkak, Hulu Langat.
Located about an hour away from the Kuala Lumpur city, Sungai Congkak is a popular recreational forest in the Hulu Langat district of Selangor state. Activities and facilities here include camping, picnicking, BBQs and bathing in the clear cool water of natural river pools and rapids amid the tall tropical rainforest trees. It is literally a piece of paradise in the city whereby city dwellers can pop by and enjoy the beauty of mother nature. However, it is sad to say that as much as mother nature never fails to let us enjoy her beauty most of the visitors does not return the same love to her by littering all over her. Hence, we set out to right those wrongs by cleaning her up.
"Military training in progress"
The original plan was to hold our river clean up at Sungai Perdik, Hulu Langat just 4km away from Sungai Congkak. But as the lucky stars were not shinning down on us, we came upon a signage board which halted us or rather the whole bus load of us on our clean up mission. Turns out that we couldn’t enter Sungai Perdik area due to an on-going Military Training. This did not deter us from executing the plan and we diverted to benefit Sungai Congkak.
"Gathering all the volunteers for briefing"
"The morning start with ice-breaking, introduction, briefing and group allocation"
Upon arriving at Sungai Congkak, we got the volunteers to break the ice among themselves with a game of amoeba! What a sight indeed when everyone ‘revolutionised’ together. It certainly did break the ice and got everyone warmed up for the main task of the day.
"Tools and rubbish bag distribution for all the volunteers in the group to start cleaning"
Once we split the volunteers into 3 groups and zones, it was clean up time! Everyone got down and started on their task eventually collecting 40 sacks of trash which were separated the trash into recyclables and non-recyclables. It was certainly eye opening, despite the surrounding area looking clean, we actually managed to pick up so much litter some which was buried under mainly plastic items. Goes to show how damaging these trashes can be staying in the ground for years, mostly not being biodegradable.
"Happy volunteer enjoying the activity on the day"
After much digging, probing and picking of trashes for 3 hours, we managed to cover 3 zones all together. All the volunteers did well by combing almost every inch of the areas for nasty rubbish. We then concluded with a much deserving lunch and of course a cool dip in the river to enjoy it charms in its pristine condition.
"Some parents bring the kids to let them experience and teach them about environment start from young."
We would like to give our heartfelt thanks to the Selangor State government and Tourism Selangor for their support to enable us to keep mother nature clean and pristine. We left Sungai Congkak with the confidence the 50 volunteers today will spread awareness and start the change in mindset to help protect the environment for the future generations to come.