This story is a part of a sequence of articles that includes previous Star Golden Hearts Award winners and the award’s newly launched classes of causes which embody group empowerment, schooling, surroundings and wildlife, social welfare, and catastrophe and disaster aid.
Retiree Aziza Sandiman was extremely intrigued by what she noticed throughout one among her morning walks in her Taman Melawati neighbourhood in Gombak, Selangor.
It was a group of volunteers cleansing up the Sungai Klang web site, amongst whom was one other senior citizen.
“I approached Kak Inah and asked her what all of that was about. She told me they were from the neighbourhood and part of the Alliance Of River Three initiative.
“They meet regularly to keep the river clean, among other things. I thought it was a great effort and last October, I joined the volunteer group,” shares the 69-year-old Aziza.
Alliance Of River Three is co-founded by entrepreneur Kennedy John Michael, who was recognised as one of many 10 winners of the Star Golden Hearts Award (SGHA) in 2020. The annual award celebrates on a regular basis unsung heroes in Malaysia.
Alliance Of River Three is the governing platform for the community- primarily based site-specific organisations, Friends Of Sungai Klang Taman Melawati River Three and Friends of Sungai Klang Mid Valley River Three. Both entities are members of Friends Of Klang River Basin.
Volunteer Syuen Toh (proper) educating different volunteers how to plant wedelia or Singapore daisies.
Recently, a group of Star Media Group (SMG) volunteers joined Michael and his crew to assist out with their weekend river rehabilitation work.
It was an insightful and fruitful expertise for most of the volunteers, who all shared that their concepts of sustainability and river conservation had been reframed.
“It changed my perspective on how I looked at sustainability. It is not just about planting trees. It’s really about maintenance and long-term planning.
“Earlier, we planted wedelias (Singapore daisies) along the pathway. What we learnt is that they hold the soil, so it won’t dirty the pathway.
“This is a good idea because the pathway will be kept clean naturally and it saves the effort of cleaning up,” shares Ong Xiao Tong from SMG’s analytics division.
Michael, who has been a resident of Taman Melawati since 1978, added that the RM5,000 award prize was used to refill on tools similar to rakes, hoes, pipes, cement and different hand instruments.
Since successful the Star Golden Hearts Award, the Alliance Of River Three crew has been busy with their efforts in rehabilitating the river and the encompassing ecosystem.
Since late May, they’ve been on a mission to set up 30 Pop Up Pollinator Gardens (PUPG) as a part of the United Nations Development Programme’s Urban Biodiversity Initiative (UNDP UBI) to enhance pollinator gardens, hosts and brokers to preserve and improve city biodiversity resilience.
“We’re happy to say that we have completed that mission but the programme continues as our target is to build 360 PUPGs in total along the Taman Melawati River Three (TMR3) Masjid Trail,” shares Michael.
“We’re on a 12-year mission that began on July 28, 2018 and we are working towards completing it by Sept 24, 2030.
Michael says conservation work is a community-driven affair.
“We have a clear vision of the outcomes we are working towards and we have used it to map the direction and subsequently the actions to be taken to complete the mission,” he provides.
Michael has participated in many conservation initiatives exterior his neighbourhood since 1997.
However, in 2018, he determined to take an acquaintance’s recommendation, who advised him that he ought to do one thing in his own backyard.
He quickly discovered a mentor in former Gombak district engineer Mansor Abd Ghani, who shared the identical ardour. From their alliance, the River Three Association, now referred to as the Alliance Of River Three, was born.
It didn’t take too lengthy earlier than Taman Melawati residents had a tranquil spot of nature they may name their own.
A Star Media Group volunteer choosing up plastic trash that had washed up alongside the river due to a downpour the evening earlier than.
“I’ve been living here since 2010. This is my home. I stay close to the river, and this initiative is within my community, within my reach.
“I’m a mother and my children’s future is my priority. I joined the initiative to not only preserve the water resources but to make a space where the community can come and enjoy nature in their own backyard,” shares Salina Hussein, group liaison and co-founder of Friends Of Sungai Klang Taman Melawati River Three.
Michael stated their success was partly due to the GREduAction (Gotong-Royong Education by Action) programme he devised to train volunteers helpful abilities they may apply in different areas to result in desired outcomes.
He described the GREduAction programme as gotong-royong with motion, in which volunteers not solely be taught to use instruments correctly in the 2 hours spent cleansing the river web site each Saturday, but additionally decide up new information on river conservation.
Michael (proper) briefing volunteers earlier than the river rehabilitation work started.
Since the GREduAction programme started in July 2020, the Sungai Klang web site in Taman Melawati has been remodeled from an ugly, soiled place into a stunning spot with correct trails the place guests can admire nature at their leisure.
“We’ve got four more kilometres of river trails to build, along with supporting facilities such as toilets, lighting, safety and emergency features, and data collection tools.
“Our current focus is to embed our operational SOPs across our core teams and volunteer groups so that they can run autonomously while we focus on developing the economic aspects of our model and continue building the physical infrastructure of the park,” Michael concludes.
