Week 1

Our first CSI class was conducted in the lecture theatre where we were given a brief introduction to the subject as well as a motivational speech to encourage us to do well for this subject. We were then informed that consecutive classes would be conducted online through TIMES and we were asked to form groups of five as well as choose a theme for our CSI project.

The theme chosen by my group was Self Sustaining Centre for The Community and the community that we chose to focus on was the orang asli community. The reason we chose this theme and community is because we were excited to get to know the orang asli community which we were not familiar with and also we felt that the orang asli community would benefit the most from a community service project such as this where we are given the opportunity to design to improve their living conditions.

For the first week we were only required to confirm our chosen theme and community as well as post our group member name list on the Padlet wall in TIMES.

 

Week 2

This week was our first online class where we were required to post a group photo with all our members and upload it on our Padlet wall as proof of our attendance. Furthermore, we were also required to update our progress where we were to inform on our chosen site and SWOT analysis for that site. Also, we were required to propose a design for our chosen community and elaborate on the aims of that design.

The site that we chose was Kampung Kemensah as through our online research we discovered that there is an orang asli community living in rural conditions that could benefit from our community service project. The design that we proposed was to design a charity space to display and sell handmade crafts of the orang asli and we also proposed conducting activities to educate the orang asli children.

Individually, we were required to post about our expectations from the community service project and my response to this was that I wanted to be able to better understand the orang asli community and help them in some way.

 

Week 3

For our third class, we were required to post our improved design based on the previous week and also our research of the site and precedent studies.

Developing from our previous session, we decided to design a shelter where the orang asli could have activities such as hunting lessons, survival skills, language centre, food preparation and cultural events. This shelter would allow tourist to learn more about the orang asli and also generate income for the orang asli community.  

Individually, I was in charge of producing a site analysis board about our site and the orang asli community.

Below are some of the key points I identified for our site (The complete site analysis board can be viewed on the padlet wall):

 

Week 4

After receiving comments for our previous session we were told that our site was appropriate for our project however the design had to be more manageable such that it could be carried out easily. Furthermore, the tutorial session was to be conducted as a physical meeting for this week.

During our session, we presented our new design which was a rainwater harvesting planter box. Through discussion with our tutor we decided to design rainwater harvesting vertical garden instead as we were told it would be more interesting. Furthermore, we were given advice to simplify our design such that it would be easier to construct.

The reason we wanted to create a place for the orang asli to plant vegetables is because we identified the main issue of the orang asli community to be the lack of self-sustaining activities. Furthermore, rainwater harvesting is beneficial for the community because the river is located far from the village and it would be difficult for them to obtain water to maintain the planted vegetables.

 

Week 5

Our progress for this week was our redesigned rainwater harvesting vertical garden. The design incorporates recycled materials and also a simple mechanism that allows the plants to be self-watering. The idea was to use recycled bottles as pots for the plants and place them on a shelf structure with pipes connected to a rainwater harvesting tank.

This design would be able to introduce the concept of rainwater harvesting to the orang asli community and teach them a new method of farming that will allow them to be self-sustaining and also generate income through the sale of excess plants and vegetables. Furthermore, because the design utilises reused materials it also reduces wastage.

This week my individual task was to produce the design proposal board for our new design.

Below are some sketches I drew for our new design (The completed board can be viewed on the padlet wall):

 Week 6

This week is our interim submission. Our design has been approved however we were told to further improve the rainwater harvesting mechanism used in our design. Thus, we have produced an A0 board for our new design in preparation for the final submission and also a mock up model to further understand how the design will work.

Furthermore, my individual task for this week was to complete the article writing for our project.

 

Week 6

Later this week (Friday), we had a physical meeting with our tutor, Pn. Yati. We updated her on our progress and showed her pictures of our completed model. Our design was approved and we visited our site to carry out the installation of our project on Sunday.

 

Week 6

On Sunday, we finally visited our site, the orang asli village at Kampung Kemensah. We began the journey there at 1pm and it took us around 2 hours to reach our site. The journey through the jungle was a unique experience for us as we had to travel through a narrow windy road to reach the village.

We entered the village on foot as the road for vehicles did not continue through to the village. We received a warm welcome from the villagers and were greeted by the village head as well as the village chairman. We discussed our project with them and asked if we could bring our prototype into the village. Surprisingly, they immediately agreed to our proposal and even told us that it would be no problem to take pictures and record videos.

The village head, Tok Batin Ebak A/L Pulasan Interview with Tok Batin and UM professor

 

When we carried our prototype into the village it drew a lot of interest from the community and many of the villagers gathered around to watch us. The children were particularly interested in what we were doing and we asked them to join us in planting the vegetables. We distributed the plastic bottles and asked the children to help us fill them with small stones and soil. We then taught them how to plant the vegetables into the plastic bottles and showed them how to use the rainwater harvesting mechanism. The villagers were really interested in our design and asked we told them about the process of building the design and the manner in which rainwater could be harvested and stored.

Carrying our prototype into the village Setting up the plants with the orang asli children

 Orang asli children planting vegetables Prototype installed on site

 

Later, we also distributed some food that we had brought with us to the villagers, we also toured the village and even spent some time playing with the kids who rode around on bicycles and showed us how to play “gasing”. The villagers who walked us around the village even showed us some of the medicinal herbs they grew and also the “kelulut” hives where they gathered honey.

Environment of the orang asli village Orang asli house

Distributing food to the orang asli children Playing gasing with the orang asli children

 

Medicanal herb grown in the village Kelulut hives for harvesting of kelulut honey

Rubber trees

 

All in all, it was a really exciting experience and we were very happy to receive the positive response to our design. We were not only able to successfully carry out our project but were also able to experience first-hand the orang asli community. We learnt that the orang asli are a very friendly and welcoming people and also although they are still living in rural conditions we learnt that they have a lot of their own knowledge and values to share.

Below is the group picture we took at the village: