Getaway to Kampung Rinching Hilir, Semenyih

      Social Engagement is a course for the university students to have an opportunity to interact and socialize with the community. For this year's Social Engagement, I was chosen as the group leader for Group 15 and our project, "Program Anak Angkat" is to visit the community in Kampung Rinching Hilir, Semenyih, Selangor. It is quite a rural place, far from the noise of big city and full with the beauty of nature. For this project, we are cooperating with other three groups, which are group 1, 10 and 11.

Pre-Visit (15th March 2019)

Pre-visit to Kampung Rinching Hilir, Semenyih

      On 15th March, I had joined the pre-visit team to have a meeting with the local management. Here, we met the representatives of the village MPKK assisted us by knowing all of our planned tentative. During the discussion, we are informed that they are planning to publicize their tourism attractions to push the name of Kampung Rinching Hilir to the top. The discussion flow was run smoothly and we both were excited for the day.

Day 1 (30th April 2019)

Briefing before the trip

      Before we departing to Kampung Rinching Hilir, we were gathered at Department of Electrical Engineering on 8am to have a briefing about the two-day plan in Semenyih. A total of 40 students went there by car and it took about an hour to reach there. After reaching there, we were having an opening ceremony at Balai Raya and were warmly welcomed by the head of village, Tuan Haji Malek. He explained to us about the history and some attractive places in the village. After our lunch time, we moved to our foster family house for a short break. 

   

                             Opening Ceremony                                                               Lunch Time at Balai Raya

      About 3pm, we began with our first activity, farmland visit. We were going to a sugarcane farm where the boys will be going by lorries while the girls by 4WD vehicles. However, me and some of my friends decided to go there by our own vehicles instead. I still remember that we lost track of the lorries and the 4WD vehicles in the middle of forest. However, it was not as scary as it sounds. Because of that, we were able to enjoy a lot more natural scenery of the rural area along the route. Eventually, we managed to reach the sugarcane farm with help. Pak Ayob explained to us the process of planting, processing and selling sugar canes. He also reminded us, if we ever plant sugar canes, try selling it directly instead of using middle men. Then, he offered us to eat the freshly-cut sugarcane from the farm and the fresh juice of the sugarcane was perfect with just a hint of sweetness. I really missed the long lost sugarcane plantation in my hometown, Chuping, Perlis which has been changed into rubber tree plantation nowadays.

     Sugarcane Farm Visit

      After that, we went to the “Kelulut” farm, owned by a start-up company called Bahoney. Kelulut is one of the many species of bees. The owner of the farm, Mr Fadirul Fais explained and demonstrated how the Kelulut honey is harvested. I was really excited to know that we got to taste the freshly-harvest honey. Surprisingly, the taste of the freshly-harvested honey is a little different than what I expected, there was some sourness behind the sweetness of the honey. The taste is similar to those of nutmegs, which is quite delicious. The owner also produce honey into other product like lip balm. Some of my friends bought the honey and lip balm which is great to support local products to help boost the national economy; in addition, locally grown food is good for the environment and for sustainability because good farmers ensure that the land is well kept with minimal usage of chemicals and fertilizers.

Kelutut Farm Visit

      After visiting farms, we then went to one of the villagers' house, Cikgu Mazlan, to prepare for the night's event, BBQ with the locals. Cikgu Mazlan and his family are very friendly and generous to welcome us for the BBQ dinner at their house. I was following a small team to the nearest shop to buy extra coal and I missed the mini games there. The experience of grilling the chickens and sausage with my friends while talking with each others that night was unforgettable. After the treat, all of us helped to clean the compound. It showed our teamwork here!

Barbecue Night

Day 2 (31st March 2019)

      The second day kick-started with Zumba session at the compound beside Sungai Semenyih. Everyone was enjoying it! Next, the activity followed by the highlight of the day, water rafting. Before starting, we were briefed with safety steps during the activity. The students were divided into two groups so that they could take their turns to experience it. The rafting experience was so thrilling and fun that some of us even went for both the rafting sessions! The villagers also explained that the rafts were actually made from recycled materials. I was amazed by how the villagers were able to build a working raft using only the recycled materials. In the same time, the group which remained on the ground help to clean up the area around the river.

   

                                     Zumba session                                                                           Water rafting session

      The tentative continued with visiting the old folks' house. This session was in charged by our group. During visiting the old folks' house, we gave some souvenirs to them as a token of gift. Some of the items were rice, biscuits, and detergents. This was a really fulfilling experience for us as this reminds us that we should always give back to other people no matter small or big. Although we did not give much to the villagers, they were really happy upon receiving our small gift to them and they welcomed us really well into their homes. We enjoyed a great time having some conversations with the villagers that we visited.

   

Visiting the Old Folks

      Finally, everything had come to the end. Before leaving, we had a closing ceremony at Balai Raya and we gave them some souvenirs as token of appreciation. Despite all the sadness, we still felt very happy and grateful for participating in this program. Throughout this event, I have learnt to become a better leader to lead our group members to work as a team. Thank to the Malaya Electrical Students’ Association (MESA) and the Department of Electrical Engineering for having the “Anak Angkat” program as our Social Engagement project. It is a very meaningful program that allows the students to socially engage with the society and gained a lot of experience.

   

Written by,

LIM WILSON

KIE170043