I started a Summer social project!

Hey, what are you going to do for the summer man? Intern? Which company have you applied for?” As we creep towards the end of second term, that’s the question to ask whenever you meet another fellow high-achieving acquaintance of yours at Imperial, isn’t it? For my first and second year at university, the peer pressure never got to me. I backpacked, travelled and spent some quality family time during summers. Third year was a different story, like many others, I applied for companies that interest me, refined my CV, wrote cover letters, etc. But, unlike many others, I had zero offers back and that hit me hard. For a short while.

I decided to take a break from all the corporate pressure and coursework, I went to my aunt’s place in London for a refreshing weekend. During that time, my mind was clear enough to ponder what I really wanted to do, soon followed by a moment of excitement when I concluded that I would start a summer social project. Something new, something impactful, it was a mixed feeling of excitement and confusion as I also had no idea of how I would approach this challenge. The plan, the execution, the end goal, everything was a blur other than the location. It needed to be Genting Village, Tioman Island in Malaysia; where I spent my last two summers working as a tour guide. All I could remember from the times were flashbacks of locals openly burning their garbage and causing pollution. Surely there’s some waste management problem to be fixed, right?

It was May 2018, supposedly my project wass going to start in August 2018. Things got slow after that weekend, after that initial rush of adrenaline. I knew majority of the work would be done on-site, but procrastination was real. I would put the project at the top of my to-do-list and I’d still do nothing. The only tasks I accomplished within that three months’ gap was a 6-hour reading into the general waste management system and getting a logo done by my friend). The rationale behind that was, once I publicise the logo on social media, telling the world about my summer social project, there’s no turning back. The public is my invigilator.

It’s 1st August 2018 and I’ve just landed in Genting Village, Tioman Island, after a gruesome 9-hour bus ride plus a 2-hour ferry ride. In the beginning few days, I was uneasy about everything. What if there is not a problem for me to solve? What if the locals despise my project? What if I fail? The moment I stopped asking those “What If” questions was the time that I got to work. Roadblock number one – psychological problems. I started by talking to the locals about my project. The government cleaning worker, the guys that played volleyball, the resort owner, the son of the head of village, the bride of the son of the head of village. I was talking to everyone. Out of the people I met and talked to, many of them ended up playing a big role in my project.

The first relevant guy I met was Alvin, where we met in another village on the island. We met online after I found a 4 year old blog written by Alvin about implementing recycling policy on the island. Alvin was brilliant, he was friendly and he told me about the whole story of them coming about increasing the recycling percentage of the village, how and why they design they recycling bin this way, etc. I took Alvin’s advice and was thinking of doing it in Genting Village. Two or three days later, I met roadblock number two – funding. What Alvin did was only possible with some grants. However, what Alvin gave me was something more influential, my first hope and confidence that things can be done on this island if you believe in it.

Alvin soon introduced me to Hisyam, a crazy dude that lives in a hut by the beach, does in-house recycling for Alvin’s village, and organises surfing competitions for Red Bull during monsoon season. Red Bull, mate, Red Bull. I must meet the guy. Hisyam was really talkative, and when he heard about my initiative, he was very supportive and started throwing me ideas and promised me his help. I was very thankful for his support and his ideas were solid and practical.

Soon after I met Hisyam, I met Z, a resort owner from Genting Village. Z is a passionate guy when it comes to environmental sustainability. A couple years ago, Z tried to start a recycling movement in the village but his lone effort was sadly ignored. He saw my arrival as an indication for him to restart his old project and make something happen. Two hours into our first meeting, over a cup of tea, we’d become partners for the project. Just like that. Finally, one thing that was happening in my favour.

Two weeks into the project, I realised I was rushing. I was taking in ideas from people and wanting to do it all. At the time, I was still doubting myself a lot. Adding onto that is the pressure of not completing the project in time. Perfect cocktail for a morning anxiety attack. I made the rational choice and took a day-off. A day where I slept till noon and had nothing on my mind other than chilling. After the well-rested day, I started from scratch and drew out a ‘big picture’ map of the waste route of the village. Generally, waste from businesses and locals are gathered at one location and get sent to the incinerator in another village. In the words of Alvin and Hisyam, the incineration procedure is “not done properly”, causing air and water pollution to the surrounding ecosystem. Hitting the reset button was the right decision as now the goal was clear – try and get as many recyclables to be sent to the in-house recycling centre of Hisyam. Killing two birds with one stone; not only will that increase the recycling awareness of the village, at the same time it indirectly reduces the pollution, with less waste being sent to the main facilities.

Proposing that simple solution to Hisyam and Z, the logistical route of recyclables was easily laid out as three of us had a meeting over a cup of tea. Z being the passionate local decided to allocate some space in his resort for recyclables collection, before being sent out to Hisyam’s recycling house. With that, we met roadblock number three – the lack of local support. How are we going to motivate the business and locals of Genting Village to recycle? Rather than thinking far ahead, we figure the first step would be informing them about the new recycling route that’ll benefit our environment i.e. raising awareness. We came out with many ideas like volleyball competitions and cleaning sessions but settled on a door-to-door campaign where a group of us would gather one morning and walk the entire village (12 resorts and 120 locals), telling everyone about the good news.

During the campaign day, we manage to gather around ten passionate volunteers (mainly divers because everyone knows how much they love the environment) and began our six-hour campaign. Knocking on people’s doors with a hand-drawn map, we started talking passionately about the new route that will help protect our environment even more. The response we got? Some remarkable, some remained neutral and some straight up ignored our message. Anyway, we got the message across and even sparked some healthy discussions about how we can help protect the beautiful environment of the island better. One conversation with a Chinese chef stuck with me. His approach towards food waste? Let the monitor lizard on the island eat them. His also raised another problem about openly burning polyfoam, as that’s the only material that can allow him to bring fresh seafood in from the mainland. Perhaps my next project can focus on that? (GWWet a real job Kai)

Two days after the campaign is where I ended my own journey. After the project, I went back to my hometown to spend some time with my family before heading back to the UK for my final year. I rarely contact Z, Hisyam and Alvin anymore as other priorities start creeping into my life (job applications *cough *cough). All in all, the entire project was not straightforward, if anything, the whole process was filled with curveballs, sharp turns, stagnant procrastination, twist and spikes. However, this is what makes the project worth remembering. Five, ten years down the road, you ain’t going to remember the smooth sails in life but rather the hardship and people you met as you struggle and stumble across challenges. Be brave enough to take the first step, and let the world guide you to your next destination.