Environmental education in schools 2022
Besides conducting environmental programmes as field events , for the year 2022, Reach conducted 5 environmental education programmes in schools too. These programmes consisted of talks on environmental protection (with emphasis on protecting the rivers and forests) and 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) followed by Art and Craft creative work from recyclable materials. Prizes and souvenirs would be given to encourage the school children. There would be Q and A sessions too.
Our school team would usually be headed by Mr Selvarajoo or occasionally Mdm Jay Gomathi and would be assisted by fellow Reach members Datin Aseema, Puan Hazlina, Miss Saraswathi or Intern from UPM En Syakir. Occasionally our president Mr Dilip and volunteer Mr Kavvin would join in.
Listed below are the programmes done.
Date School No of Pax Teacher in charge Reach Chief facilitator
24th August 22 SJKT Ringlet 25 Cikgu Anand Mr Selvarajoo (speaker)
21st and 28th Sept22 SK Convent 150 Cikgu Supiah Mdm Jay Gomathi (speaker)
5th October 22 SMSAS 85 Cikgu Mangaikalarasi Mr Selvarajoo (speaker)
11th October 22 SJKT Tanah Rata 20 Cikgu Nagalesh Mr Selvarajoo (speaker)
30th November 22 SK Brinchang 56 Encik Syakir (speaker)
Reach would like to thank the schools for their participation and also our Reach team for their dedication and hard work. These programmes would not be possible without them.
REACH 23rd Annual General Meeting
REACH 23rd Annual General Meeting
14th February 2023
Dear Reach members,
Notice is hereby given that REACH 23rd Annual General Meeting will be held as follows:
Date : 15th March 2023
Time : 8.00 pm
Venue : Avillion Hotel, C3, Jalan Camelia, Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands
Agenda:-
- President’s welcoming address
- To confirm the minutes of the 22th Annual General Meeting
- To adopt the Annual Report 2022
- To approve the Audited Statements of Accounts ending 31st December 2022
- To dissolve the committee 2021/2022
- To elect a Committee for ensuing year 2023/2024
- To appoint two honorary Auditors for ensuing year 2023/2024
- To consider any other matters of which 7 clear day’s notice shall have been given in writing to the secretary.
- Newly appointed President’s closing speech.
We appreciate your attendance.
Thank you.
Dr Cheam May Choo
Secretary
Restorasi Hutan Mossy yang terosot di Gunung Brinchang Cameron Highlands
Program Penanaman pokok ini dilaksanakan dengan peruntukan dari My ICE dibawah ROS Registrar of Societies Malaysia. Peruntukan sebanyak RM10,000 diterima pada bulan April 2022 dan program ini bermula dari bulan Mei 2022 hingga bulan Ogos 2022. Tapak penanaman pokok adalah di Pusat Biodiversiti REACH di Gunung Brinchang yang berada 1600 hingga 1800 m dari paras laut.
Seramai 327 orang murid dan guru dari 9 buah sekolah Cameron Highlands mengambil bahagian . Jumlah anak pokok/okid yang ditanam adalah 330 batang dan meliputi pokok species tempatan saperti Geruk, Kelat,Ara, Medang Serai, Medang Payung, Eugenia, Rhododendron dan okid liar saperti Bulbophyllum, Eria, Cologyne, Flickingeria, Trichostasia, Phaius dan lain lain.
Setiap program bermula pada 9 pagi apabila murid murid tiba di tapak dengan pengangkutan kenderaan 4 wheel . Mereka akan diberi taklimat/arahan daripada pembimbing dan kepentingan hutan tanah tinggi ditekankan. Ini diikuti oleh aktiviti penanaman pokok dan pada 12 tengah hari murid murid dibawa balik ke pusat pengumpulan selepas minuman ringan.
Pehak REACH ingin mengucap beribuan terima kasih kepada ROS kerana memberi dana dan galakan; pejabat pendidikan, sekolah sekolah, cikgu-cikgu, persatuan ibu bapa yang memberi sokongan dan menaja makanan dan minuman ringan; dan sukarelawan kami, Encik Selvarajoo, Encik Kaliyannan , Encik Ramachandran, Encik Vijendran, Encik Kumaresan yang memberi bimbingan kepada anak murid.
Beerikut adalah senarai sekolah yang mengambil bahagian
25hb Mei 2022-Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil SJKT Ringlet-39 peserta menanam 30 pokok
Kemaman Bitumen Company Sdn Bhd to the rescue yet again
Since 2001 when our society was first formed we have always been seeking funding for our various projects. Some years we strike lucky and have enough funds to conduct various projects including building infrastructure while some years we were ‘downright paupers’ with just enough to cover the operating and maintenance costs.
At the time when our environmental programmes with local schools were becoming a permanent fixture, we watched with apprehension as our funds gradually deplete. It was during this anxious period in 2018, that Kemaman Bitumen Company came to our aid and gave a grant of RM 10000 for our reforestation programmes.
Kemaman Bitumen has continued to believe and support us every year since then. Together with funding from ROS, these funds have helped us tide over the pandemic period relatively unscathed.
Some of the activities done with the latest Kemaman Bitumen Grant include
1. Reforestation on the 26th September 2021
Mr Sanjay, the CEO of Kemaman Bitumen and friends together with Reach members planted 20 trees at our biodiversity site in Gunung Brinchang.
2.Reforestation on the 19th February 2022 with CHERISH-Home for Children with special needs in Cameron Highlands
22 persons which included Cherish students, parents and teachers together with Reach members and volunteers participated. 25 saplings and orchids were planted.
3.Reforestation on the 18th May 2022 with Tadika Winlon, Tanah Rata
37 persons which included students, teachers , parents and volunteers participated. Event was facilitated by the President, V. President , Mr Kaliyannan, Mr Vijendran and Mr Kumaresan.
We the Reach committee would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Kemaman Bitumen for supporting us these past few years.
MyICE Reforestation programme begins
Upon the advice of the Registrar of Societies ROS, we successfully applied for a RM 10 thousand MyICE grant which we received this April. (MyICE stands for Malaysian Incentive Community Empowerment by ROS which aims to do just that). This programme is for the restoration of the disturbed mossy forests of Gunung Brinchang and is a continuation of our reforestation efforts and environmental conservation in Cameron Highlands.
As with our previous programmes, permission was first sought from the local education department and the local schools then contacted.
The reforestation site is midway up Gunung Brinchang at an elevation of between 1600m to 1800 m above sea level. Participants will be brought up to the site with 4 wheel drive vehicles. Facilitators include Mr Selvarajoo, Mr Kaliyannan, Mr Kumaresan, Mr Vijendran and Mr Ramachandran.Programme usually starts at 8.30 am and ends by 12.30pm.
The MyICE programme began with a very enthusiastic team from SJKT Ringlet headed by Cikgu Anand on the 25th of May 2022. ( SJKT Sekolah Jenis Kebangssan Tamil Ringlet is a cluster school which has won numerous environmental awards). A total of 35 students 4 teachers and 6 volunteers participated and 30 saplings/orchids were planted. Coincidentally there were also a team from RTM a local TV station who came up to film REACH activities that day.
Mr K.Selvarajoo in action.
Registrar of Societies ROS lends a helping hand
Back in 2019, just a couple of months before the emergence of Covid-19, ROS approached us on the possibility of doing an environmental activity with REACH under their ROS-Care programme. Their reconnaissance team met up with our late president Mr Ramakrishnan and a site was eventually readied for them up at our biodiversity center in Gunung Brinchang.
Then in early 2020 the pandemic came and “All hell broke loose”. Our country was not spared and under the various lockdowns , outdoor activities came to a complete halt. As the ferocity of the Covid 19 pandemic diminished so did the movement control order. Countrywide lockdowns were eased and gradually some form of normalcy returned.
We began to do more work at our research center but activities with schools were still non-existent. It was only in late 2021 that our reforestation programme restarted with the assistance of ROS.
On the 26th of October 2021, the ROS team of 35 participants headed by Tuan Haji Mohd Nawardi Bin Saad, The Director General of the Registrar of Societies Malaysia came to our centre and planted trees.
They also did more than that. They advised us to apply for their MyICE grant which provides assistance to community based societies such as ours.
Our current president Mr Dilip Martin facilitated the event. He briefed ROS on our society’s objectives, achievements and unending struggles given the magnitude of the environmental problems here. The following year, which is this year 2022, we did as ROS advised. We applied for the MyICE grant and are pleased to inform that we were successful in obtaining the grant.
We the committee of REACH cannot thank the Registrar of Societies enough for lending us a helping hand just when we needed it most.