On the 21^st of December 2019 (Saturday), around 13 participants from 3 different communities under the River Of Life (ROL) project joined the “Jelajah Inspirasi Komuniti” program, organized by EcoKnights. The purpose of this program is to inspire, motivate and give simple ideas to the community under the ROL project on how to adopt sustainable living. EcoKnights brought these groups of communities to meet the residents of Pangsapuri 560 Bandar Bukit Puchong and Surau Al-Husna Seksyen 20 who were also communities under the ROL project, who seem to have made significant efforts in their journey towards sustainability. 

At the beginning of the journey, all participants were brought to Surau Al-Husna, Shah Alam and started their first activity; Visiting the hosting communities’ edible garden. The community shared that it was a collaborative effort by the residents and members of the Surau to grow their own produce and later sell these fresh produce to help and generate some income for the Surau. Next, the visitors visited the recycling centre that has been set up within the Surau area. Not only do Surau Al-Husna now collect recyclables, but it also became a collection point for used cooking oil. 

Not only that, the community also installed a rainwater harvesting system at the Surau for public use. The community’s resilience and effort to change their lifestyle into a more sustainable pattern won them several awards and gained recognition by the local city council too. The participants learned and retrieved numerous ideas after the visit as they not only see how environmentally driven efforts are important but also can be successfully managed and achievable at community level. 

After that, the EcoKnights team together with the participants embarked to Pangsapuri 560 Bandar Bukit Puchong to have the second visit. As soon as they arrived at the location, they were amazed to see the landscape of the housing area that has been taken care of by the residents there. They saw the beautiful edible garden and rainwater harvesting system that is used to water the garden. It was shared that the community’s effort there received support from their local city council and universities, hence leading to such results. The visiting participants learned that maintaining a community together is not an easy task yet very worthwhile.   

After witnessing the two communities’ local area and listening to their success story, we hope the other communities under the ROL project can begin their own initiative or projects to be active stakeholders and take responsibility for a piece of land around their area, and help in maintaining our existing environment. If you want to know more about these, you may contact our Head of Rehabilitation, Restoration and Conservation pillar, Emirul Redzuan, at emirul@ecoknights.org.my