Swp Voluntary Service 2009

SCOUTS OF THE WORLD PROGRAMME VOLUNTARY SERVICE 2009 SUMMARY REPORT Compiled by: VSL Nicholas Koh Date: 16 August 2009

Scout of the World Programme 2009 Project Orion – Rovering with Turtles

Done By: Nicholas Koh Yong Zhi

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CONTENTS CONTENTS ..........................................................................................................2 PERSONAL PARTICULARS ................................................................................4 NEXT-OF-KIN PARTICULARS .............................................................................5 EMERGENCY CONTACTS IN MALAYSIA...........................................................5 ADDRESS OF SINGAPORE MISSION IN MALAYSIA:....................................................5 CONTACTS OF SINGAPORE MISSION IN MALAYSIA:..................................................5 EQUIPMENT LIST ................................................................................................6 GENERAL INFORMATION...................................................................................7 SETIU, TERENGGANU INFORMATION ..............................................................8 INVOLVEMENT ....................................................................................................10 DAY 1 – 20 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................11 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 1 .................................................................................12 DAY 2 – 21 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................13 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 2 .................................................................................14 DAY 3 – 22 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................16 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 3 .................................................................................17 DAY 4 – 23 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................18 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 4 .................................................................................19 DAY 5 – 24 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................21 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 5 .................................................................................22

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DAY 6 – 25 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................23 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 6 .................................................................................24 DAY 7 – 26 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................26 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 7 .................................................................................27 DAY 8 – 27 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................28 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 8 .................................................................................29 DAY 9 – 28 JUNE 2009 ......................................................................................31 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 9 .................................................................................32 DAY 10 – 29 JUNE 2009 ....................................................................................33 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 10 ...............................................................................34 DAY 11 – 30 JUNE 2009 ....................................................................................36 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 11 ...............................................................................37 DAY 12 – 1 JULY 2009.......................................................................................38 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 12 ...............................................................................39 DAY 13 – 2 JULY 2009.......................................................................................40 REFLECTIONS OF DAY 13 ...............................................................................41 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................42

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Personal Particulars Name

Nicholas Koh Yong Zhi

NRIC

S8411721H

Age

25+

Gender

Male

Citizenship

Singaporean

Contact Number

97652516

Residential Address

BLK 134 Lorong Ah Soo #08-466 Singapore 530134

Blood type

A+

Allergies

Amoxil

Dietary Restrictions

NIL

Medical Conditions

NIL

Medications

NIL

School

NA

Scout Troop

Cuon Scout Group

Year joined Scouting

1993

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Next-of-kin Particulars Name

Lau Kim Choo

NRIC

S1413388G

Relationship

Mother

Contact Number

81324639

Residential Address

BLK 134 Lorong Ah Soo #08-466 Singapore 530134

Emergency Contacts in Malaysia Address of Singapore Mission in Malaysia: 209 Jalan Tun Razak 50400 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Email: [email protected]

Contacts of Singapore Mission in Malaysia: 02-(03) 2161-6404, 2161-6277, 2161-6506, 2161-6612, 2161-6752

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Equipment List CONTENTS

QTY

-

Backpack

1

-

Eating Utensils (mess tin, fork & spoon)

1 Set

-

Water bottle (1litre)

2

-

Rain Coat

1

-

Sleeping Bag

1

-

Personal toiletries (toothbrush, towel, etc)

1 Set

-

T-shirts

7

-

Jacket / Windbreaker

1

-

Shorts

3

-

trekking / hiking pants

4

-

Socks

7

-

Undergarments

8

-

Track Shoes

1 Pair

-

Slippers / Sandals

1 Pair

-

Scout’s Uniform (with Singapore flag badge)

2 Set

-

Stationery (Notebook, Pen, Pencil, Markers)

1 Set

-

Camera

1

-

Torch light

1

-

Spare Batteries

4 AA

-

Personal First Aid Kit

1 Set

-

Passport

1

-

Money

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General Information Title: Project Orion – Rovering with Turtles Dates: 20 June 2009 – 05 July 2009 Location: Terengganu – Setiu Wetlands, Malaysia Organizer: The Singapore Scout Association Participants: -

19 ~ 25 years of age Rover Scouts from Singapore and Malaysia.

-

08 Rover Scouts from Singapore and 01 Rover Scout from Malaysia participated in this event.

Project Orion Team Members are: •

Team Leader: Oliver Lim

•

Team Co-leader: Melissa Heng

•

Team Advisor: Tan Sijie

•

Liaison: Arvind Danapalan

•

Secretary: Ashok Kumar

•

Treasurer: Muhd Isa

•

Ops Manager: Nicholas Koh

•

Ops Manager: Ong May Lwin

•

Logistics Manager: Parry Lim

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Setiu, Terengganu Information The Setiu Wetlands are located in the northeast of Peninsula Malaysia, in the state of Terengganu. For Terengganu, approximately 51.6% or 670,000 ha of the state still remains under forest cover. Of this, 5,168 ha are designated as plantation (Krishnapillay & Ong, 2003).

The wetlands form part of the Setiu river basin and the region features: •

Estuaries and deltas

•

Intertidal mudflats, sand flats and mangroves

•

Coastal brackish and saline lagoons and marshes

•

Melaleuca swamp forest (known locally as *gelam*) or freshwater swamp forests with vegetation comprising almost exclusively of Melaleuca cejeputi

•

Lowland dry forest with characteristic Dipterocarps and Nipah palm (Nypa fructicans). (Global Environment Facility, 1999).

This range of habitats provides a variety of floristic communities, which in turn support animal communities characteristic of tropical wetland ecosystems.

Setiu Wetland is a unique place in the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia where it has national and international importance for conservation. The wetland is home to the critically endangered river terrapin, painted terrapin and also the important landing site for marine turtles especially the green turtles in northern Terengganu. It also has high biodiversity and an important area for fishery resources.

In the same time, Setiu is the poorest district in the state and even in the nation. Majority of the population in Setiu works in the fisheries sectors and living the subsistence lifestyle where they are highly dependent on the natural resources for generating income. As the government is pushing hard to enhance agriculture

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and aquaculture activities to increase the livelihood status of the local population, this move escalate the stress on the wetland ecosystems in Setiu due to conversion of wetland for other economic uses.

Hence, conservation in Setiu Wetland is a great challenge where we need to balance the socio-economic development needs and the need to protect the ecosystems* functions. WWF believe that by introducing the alternative livelihood to the local populations to pull away their dependancy on natural resources for subsistence could in future lower the stress on the wetland resources consumption and create more sustainable condition that enables the socioeconomic development and conservation take place in harmony. This mean can be achieved by promoting Ecotourism. As ecotourism is a high conscience industry, the local population must be made aware the non-consumptive value of the ecosystems and capacity build the local population to actively participate in the industry.

Work done by WWF includes: •

Turtle & painted terrapin conservation

•

Facilitating cottage industry activities for the womenfolk so they can increase their economy, so they in turn don’t rely on the natural resources for income

•

Mangrove replanting

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Involvement -

Beach patrolling for any turtle nesting

-

Mangrove replanting or work at the mangrove nursery

-

Awareness events in schools

-

Basic English classes for the locals (adults/kids)

-

Painting of school mural

-

Improvise/renovate/paint WWF information centre (and minor repairs if any)

-

Beach clean-up

-

Assist local women with cottage industry

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DAY 1 – 20 June 2009 TIME

ACTIVITIES

1500hrs

Arrival at Setiu, Terengganu

1530hrs

Logistics & Supplies organization

1600hrs

Camp Development

1800hrs

Dinner

1930hrs

Group Meeting

2200hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

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Reflections of Day 1 We arrived at the Zonice Rover Scout’s base in Kuala Lumpur at 6.30am on day 1, where we rendezvous with Arvind our Malaysian Liaison Officer, and to pick up much of our key logistics for this trip. We were hosted to a sumptuous breakfast at Zonice Rovers’ base, we had roti chenai and nasi lemak and we also took some group photos. We left for Terengganu shortly thereafter.

We arrived at Penarik Inn – Setiu Terengganu, at about 3pm. At Penarik, we quickly distributed our equipment supplies and begin with our campsite development.

After the camp development, we rode on our bicycles to a nearby food stall to have our dinner. We had our group meeting before wrapping up for the night.

When we first arrived at Terengganu, I noticed the soft sand and gentle sea breeze, which gives a very relaxing impression of the place.

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DAY 2 – 21 June 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0930hrs

Introduction to hatchery work by WWF

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Painting works at the WWF Info Centre

1700hrs

Hatchery work

1900hrs

Dinner

2000hrs

Cycling to Talaga Papan

2100hrs

Release of hatchlings

2200hrs

Return to camp

2300hrs

Meeting with WWF

0030hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

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Reflections of Day 2 We woke up at 6.30am, and to my surprise, the sunrise seems to be much prettier on the east coast of Malaysian peninsular. We had our breakfast, and were introduced to hatchery work by WWF’s Nurul for the start of our trip.

The hatchery was a lot simpler than what I had expected. Maybe because the hatchery was built to simulate an environment as close to the turtle’s natural nesting environment, and so for the hatchery worker’s convenience, the turtle nests were sited next to one another. The hatchery was protected with some netting around and on top of it, to keep out predators from the land and air. There were some traps built inside the hatchery to catch any crabs that manage to burrow their way through.

After lunch, we proceeded to the WWF Info centre, also affectionately known as the pink house to the locals, to help out with some painting works. The info centre was recently rented by WWF to enable its conservation work in the area. It allows WWF to work with the local community, Pewanis – a local women’s group to spread the message of the importance of turtle conservation, to the local villagers. Especially when Setiu is a nesting ground for turtles and many of the local folk are fishermen; it is very common for fishermen around the area to come into contact with these turtles. If these fishermen are aware of the plight of these turtles and help to protect these turtles, then it may give these turtles a better chance at survival.

After the painting works, we were told that there were two nests of turtles hatching and so we proceeded to the hatchery excitedly to observe the hatching process. We were delighted as this is the first time in the hatchery that there were two nests hatching at the same time. Usually, only one nest will hatch in any one day.

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Once these turtles hatch, they had to be released that night, and so after our dinner, we cycled down to talaga papan beach – the site where these turtles were found, to release them. It was an exciting moment to see these hatchlings released back into the wild.

After we returned to our campsite, we had a discussion with Mr River Foo, the community liaison officer for WWF. It was a meaningful discussion as we now had a better understanding of the situation in the local community.

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DAY 3 – 22 June 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0900hrs

Meeting with WWF

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Renovation site 1 visit

1700hrs

Hatchery’s nest excavation

1900hrs

Dinner

2000hrs

Fireflies boat trip

2200hrs

Return to camp

2230

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

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Reflections of Day 3 We woke up at 6.30am, had our breakfast, and proceeded to have a proper discussion with WWF on how we can carry out the intended work. Many details were thrashed out, like when and how to carry out beach clean-up, patrolling, mangrove re-planting, school visits, mural paintings and renovation works.

One of the biggest problems is the renovation works. How much are we going to renovate – to what extent, and will we be able to complete the project as promised? Therefore, we agreed to make a visit to the site to have a better understanding after our lunch.

Following the site visit, we went down to the hatchery to observe how a nest is excavated after all the hatchlings have been released into the sea. The remaining shells and undeveloped eggs were properly disposed of by burning; this is to prevent any contamination, which may result from animals coming into contact with these shells and eggs or these materials leaking into the seas and rivers.

After dinner, we had an enjoyable boat ride to observe fireflies in the vicinity. It was a relaxing moment to enjoy the beautiful sight the fireflies brought.

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DAY 4 – 23 June 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0830hrs

Cycling to beach cleanup site

0900hrs

Beach cleanup

1100hrs

Return to hatchery

1130hrs

Hatchery work

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

School visit

1700hrs

School Mural Painting discussion

1900hrs

Dinner

2100hrs

Beach Patrol

0300hrs

Return to camp

0330hrs

Wash up

0400hrs

Lights out

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Reflections of Day 4 We woke up at 6.30am, had our breakfast, and cycled down to the beach cleanup site to begin with our beach cleanup. The beach is situated some distance away from the village, but the villagers do use the beach on their rest days for recreational activities like fishing. Thus most of the trash collected there are actually trash washed ashore, and only some of the trash are contributed locally. Styrofoam and plastic bottles remain the highest amount of debris collected, however I do think that it is not plastics or Styrofoam that pollutes the earth but rather improper disposal of such trash causes pollution all around us.

We returned to the hatchery after our cleanup, to do some repair works on the hatchery. The netting above the hatchery has some tears and needed to be repaired, and so we did some ‘needle-work’, by using fishing lines, we joined torn nets and they worked as good as new.

After lunch, we made a visit to the school; I was pleasantly surprised that the local Cub Scout Pack actually has so many Cub Scouts. They put up a performance known as “Chorus Speaking”, and they had actually won an award for their efforts. Before we left, we had a discussion with the teacher – Cik Sahaa to finalize the design of the mural painting for the school’s wall. We were unprepared and part of the team had to work after lunch to resolve the painting preparations.

Parry, Arvind, Oliver and I carried on with the beach patrol. The patrolling was a little terrifying. There was a thunderstorm and we were walking out on the beach, right in the open. Lightning strike all around us, and we were the tallest object around. Fortunately our ranger is experienced enough and led us to a nearby shelter, and we waited for the storm to pass. While under the shelter, a tree was strike by lightning just 10m away from us, but the storm slowly passed after 2 hours.

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We carried on with the patrolling and shortly after crossing a fast flowing river, we came across our first sighting. The turtle had just laid its eggs and was about to return to the sea, and we were so lucky to be able to see it before it completely disappeared into the ocean. We quickly followed its tracks to its nest and dug up its eggs. This turtle is the largest ever seen by the ranger and we collected around 150 eggs, which is extraordinarily high because turtles usually lay around 100 eggs. Maybe its because of the size of the turtle that its able to lay 150+ eggs. Anyway, we were lucky. We gave a call to Nurul, for her to come down to collect the eggs.

We carried on with the patrol and we were lucky enough to witness a second nest. This time around, there were 70+ eggs and in all we collected 230+ eggs for that evening. We eventually followed Nurul back to the hatchery to observe how these eggs are placed into the surrogate nests.

The rain also flooded our campsite, and thankfully River lent us his place for us to spend our night in.

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DAY 5 – 24 June 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0830hrs

Strike Camp

0930hrs

Movement to new campsite

1000hrs

Camp Development

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Mural Painting and Sketching

1900hrs

Dinner

2200hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

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Reflections of Day 5 The day began a lot harsher than the previous 4 days, as we had just completed a beach patrol the night before, and we had to quickly move to re-establish a new campsite after breakfast.

The team began to strike camp and retrieve the logistics from the campsite, fortunately for us; we could camp on grounds next to the WWF info centre. With River’s help, we shifted all our equipment to the new camping ground, and half the team began setting up the new campsite. The other half of the team proceeded to Permaisuri, a small town 45 minutes drive away, to get the painting supplies.

After lunch we carried on with the camp development and mural sketching respectively. After dinner, we were scheduled to help out with the mural painting, while the other half carried on with their beach patrol but unfortunately the rain came at a wrong timing and mural painting was postpone till the next day.

Due to the heavy downpour, we rested at the WWF info centre instead.

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DAY 6 – 25 June 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Mangrove Marking

1030hrs

Breakfast

1100hrs

Mural Painting

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Mural Painting

2100hrs

Dinner

2200hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

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Reflections of Day 6 The day started earlier than usual, as Arvind and I followed Nurul and River to the mangroves to carry out mangrove marking for the following day – 26 June 2009.

Mangrove plants are resilient, they are able to survive the inundation of salt water twice a day, and as a result, these plants can grow in areas where no other trees can grow. To survive, they use an ultra-filtration technique at the root level to remove excess salts and purify the water. The roots also reach above the ground level for oxygen.

The mangrove replanting involves not just the mangrove plants, but also the Nipah Palm plants, which produces a fruit rich in nutrients and attracts shellfish to feed on it. As a result of these shellfish, it attracts other marine creatures to feed on them, creating a food chain.

Together these plants provide a food-source for marine life to flourish, and their roots help to stabilize the soil and mitigate damage caused by storms along the coast.

After the mangrove marking, I had a quick breakfast before joining the rest for the mural painting. The mural painting was initially scheduled to be on another wall that we have completed the sketching, but unfortunately the wall had to be reserved for the school’s activity and we had to settle for another wall.

The team worked pretty fast, by the time I got to the school, the sketching was completed and painting had begun. The mural painting took us longer than expected and halfway through we had to work on Project Grease back at the WWF info centre for the Pewanis group. Naturally half the team carried on with the mural painting and the other half began work on Project Grease.

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By 9pm, both sides had completed the tasks and we had our dinner separately before turning in for the night. We needed to have an earlier night, since the following day is the mangrove planting with the local community.

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DAY 7 – 26 June 2009 TIME 0530hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0630hrs

Breakfast

0730hrs

Mangrove replanting

1300hrs

Lunch

1700hrs

Hatchery work

1900hrs

Dinner

2000hrs

Release of hatchlings

2100hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

26

Reflections of Day 7 The project is a supporter of the UN Billion Tree Campaign, and we had aimed to plant 1500 trees for the project. A total of 50 Cub Scouts from SK Mangkok, and Rovers from Kumpulan Latihan Kelanasiswa Malaysia (KLKM) joined us in the event. Mr. Hj. Rosdi , State Commissioner KLKM was there to grace the event, and for that we were very grateful for Persekutuan Pengakap Malaysia’s (PPM) (Scout Association of Malaysia) support.

We managed to plant more than 600 mangrove and palm trees before lunch, and we were pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Terengganu Press. The reporter came to interview us and took some photographs of the event.

We had a break after lunch and just before dinner we went down to the hatchery to assist in the hatchery work. New hatchlings with origins from Telaga Papan have just emerged and after dinner we went down with Nurul to release these hatchlings.

After release the hatchlings back into the sea, we washed up and had an early rest.

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DAY 8 – 27 June 2009 TIME 0530hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0630hrs

Breakfast

0730hrs

Mangrove replanting

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Renovation works

1700hrs

Release of Painted Terrapins

1900hrs

Dinner

2100hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

28

Reflections of Day 8 We woke up to an early start, just like the day before; we carried on with the mangrove re-planting works. The site we were working on was on the furthest end of all the mangrove replanting sites, and thankfully the day before we had the help of the Cubs and Rovers to help us shift the plants there. So we wasted no time, since we do not need to carry any plants around, we immediately carried out the replanting.

The replanting was a lot easier than the day before, because the site was not under water but just above the water level, and this makes the ground soft and easy for replanting. We easily managed to complete 400 plus mangroves and palm trees just before lunch.

After lunch, we move down to the renovation sites to begin the renovation works. One team worked on the replacement of wall panels and the other team worked on the construction of toilets.

Initially I was working on the wall replacement site, but due to the lack of manpower on the toilet construction site, I was tasked to help out with the other team to make up for the lack in manpower.

I soon realize that construction of the toilet is not an easy task as we need to dig a 2.5m deep hole in the ground to place the sewerage and lay the bricks to build the wall for the toilet.

Halfway through there was a group led by Professor Chan, a terrapin researcher, to release a bunch of painted terrapins, and so we headed down to the Setiu river banks to understand more about the river terrapins and to observe the release of these terrapins.

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The session with Prof Chan was indeed enriching. Initially I was skeptical of the session, because these terrapins were not in line with the objectives of this project. However after the session, I came to understand how similar these terrapins are to the sea turtles and these terrapins are also endangered creatures.

After the session, we carried on with a bit more work on the renovation before heading down for dinner. After dinner, we washed up and had a good rest.

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DAY 9 – 28 June 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0830hrs

Renovation works

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Renovation works

1900hrs

Dinner

2100hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

31

Reflections of Day 9 After two hectic days of mangrove replanting, we woke up to a slower start. The rest of the day we simply concentrated on the renovation works, which I felt slightly disappointed by the team’s decision to shelve the original plan to plant 1500 mangrove trees. However I also understand that we had a commitment to the local community to deliver what we had promised them. Nevertheless, I had thought we could achieve both objectives, I still decided to abide by the team’s decision – it was a team effort after all.

we were grateful for abang Bee and his friends’ help, without them we would not be able to lower the sewerage walls by ourselves.

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DAY 10 – 29 June 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0830hrs

Renovation works

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Renovation works

1900hrs

Dinner

2100hrs

Beach Patrol at Kuala Bahru

33

Reflections of Day 10 Most of the day we carried out the renovation works, and it was good to see that our toilet wall is getting higher. And the toilet is beginning to take its shape. The weather was so hot, the day passed painfully slow.

After dinner, i began my beach patrol with our ranger at Kuala Bahru beach. As the ranger could not understand much English and I was unable to communicate in Malay, we trekked the beach in silent darkness. It started to become monotonous when we spotted a dark figure from a distance away. As we approached we spotted a set of terrapin tracks and as we hurried closer, we were pleasantly surprised by the sight of a terrapin sand-bathing on the beach. Amazingly, the terrapin did not shy away from us, and we proceeded to retrieve the terrapin eggs from its nest. Seeing this great opportunity, I proceeded to take a few quick pictures of the terrapin.

The ranger quickly got to work, and we began to retrieve the eggs from the nest. There were twelve eggs in total. This terrapin was really large and I was really lucky, not just to be able to see it, but also to take some good pictures of this terrapin.

After we had finish collecting the eggs, we began to carry on with our patrol. Normally terrapins would move away at first sight of humans, but this terrapin remained fixed to the spot even after we had moved away from the nest.

On the way to the hatchery, we met another fellow ranger and we proceeded to the hatchery to place the collected eggs. We carried on with a second patrol shortly after our rest at the ranger’s hut, but there weren’t any more sightings of the terrapins.

It was a lucky night for me to be able to spot a terrapin, as they will usually shy away from any human activity like fishing boats which are common around Kuala 34

Bahru. Even though the trek was a little longer, but it was a great experience to spot a terrapin sand bathing.

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DAY 11 – 30 June 2009 TIME 0730hrs

ACTIVITIES Breakfast

0830hrs

Rest

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Renovation works

1900hrs

Dinner

2000hrs

Renovation works

0200hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

36

Reflections of Day 11 The day started out quickly for me, as I just returned from the beach patrolling. I had a quick wash up and joined the team for breakfast. I had promised the team that regardless of the amount of sleep I get, I’ll expect nothing less from myself. However, the team decided that I’ll be better off with some rest and insisted that I get some rest back at the WWF info centre.

Thus I managed to catch some sleep until lunch time, and joined the team for the renovation works. The works took longer than we had expected. The brick laying was no mean feat and the plastering of the wall was equally tough as well. We plastered the wall as best as we could, but halfway through the half the team had to attend the appointment we had with the school Cub Scouts.

Thankfully after dinner, abang Bee and his friends agreed to help us plaster the wall. They are after professionals, what took us the whole day; they took at most an hour to complete. They also helped us with the flooring and the installation of the cistern. Arvind and I stayed around to help abang Bee and friends with simple errands like moving bricks, mixing plaster, etc.

We finished at 2am, and by then I could hardly think. All I wanted at that point in time was to catch some sleep.

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DAY 12 – 1 July 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0830hrs

Renovation works

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Renovation works

1600hrs

Burial of a dead turtle

1800hrs

Renovation works

2000hrs

BBQ Dinner

2200hrs

Release of hatchlings

2300hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

38

Reflections of Day 12 I had a pretty good rest, and the rest of the day I was recharged and ready to go. As usual, after breakfast we carried on with the renovation work. I was pretty frustrated with the progress of the renovation work and was hoping for the work to be done as soon as possible.

We had to lay 3 more layers of bricks for the ventilation window at the top of the toilet walls each, and that means more plastering. A welcome break came around evening time when I volunteered to help out with the burial of a dead turtle.

The turtle had died from drowning and was discovered by a local fisherman. It was a gross sight to see the turtle bloated up and blood dripping out from its eyes and mouth. Flies were swarming all around the carcass. After taking a few measurements, Nurul determined it to be a sub-adult female, about 20 years in age; we proceeded to dig a hole to bury the turtle.

That evening we had a BBQ dinner, which was meant to be our farewell dinner, and throughout the dinner, the villagers were very warm and friendly to us. They kept insisting on serving us and even had performances - Muay Thai/ Tomoi and Silat to entertain us.

The night ended abruptly when Oliver, our team leader was stung by a centipede. Nurul help to send him to the nearest hospital for medical assistance.

The night wrapped up when and I volunteered to follow River to release a batch of hatchlings from Talaga Papan.

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DAY 13 – 2 July 2009 TIME 0630hrs

ACTIVITIES Reveille

0730hrs

Breakfast

0830hrs

Cleaning of equipment

1300hrs

Lunch

1400hrs

Painting works at the WWF Info Centre

1900hrs

Dinner

2000hrs

Debrief

2100hrs

Equipment preparation, maintenance & Wash up Lights out

40

Reflections of Day 13 Nothing much for the day, as we begin to wrapped up the last of our work here in Setiu. After breakfast, we collected our equipment from the renovation sites and cleaned them. After cleaning we proceeded to have lunch and helped WWF to complete its paint work and repairs for their window hinges.

The evening ended with a debrief by Oliver, the project leader and our thanks to Nurul and River from WWF, Malaysia.

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Conclusion As this marks the end of the Scout of the World Programme: Project Orion – Rovering with Turtles, I am very fortunate to be able to have come this far with both Malaysian and Singapore Scouts.

Through this trip, I have made new friends, experienced the Terengganu culture, their warmness, their hospitality. But more importantly, I have come to a better understanding of turtle conservation and how it affects the livelihood of the Setiu villagers.

The villagers that we came across, many may not have the luxury of stepping out to experience life outside their village, but I hope we have brought joy to these villagers.

However, in reality, the conservation situation is Setiu is very much still in its infancy, and more work needs to be done for both inside and outside of Setiu as well as in and outside of Malaysia. Turtles don’t belong to any one country; they will cross borders, latitudes and longitudes.

If the turtles continue to get hunted by poachers on the high seas, then no amount of conservation work on land can save these fragile creatures from extinction. They have survived for millions of years; can it survive the next century? Very much like the turtle we saw back in Setiu that drowned, it took 20 years to grow to such a size, only to have drowned in some fisherman’s net.

Although the situation looks grim, but we can, at the same time, see that improvements have been made in worldwide. Compare now and 20 years ago, there are more awareness programmes and activities inside and outside of Malaysia. New legislation is being introduced and existing ones are toughed,

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although the conservation process is slow, but someday we will be able to witness these turtles taken off from the list of endangered creatures.

Creating a Better World.

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