by Oon Yan Yan
Everything began when Melody happily volunteered both Sue Sze and I for Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands (“REACH”) programmes during our trip to Cameron Highlands. She believed that we will learn much from the programs and understand why she is fighting so hard for Cameron Highlands. She explained repeatedly to us the after effects of deforestation, pollution of the rivers and the effort that REACH had been doing over the years. To be honest, it was not that easy to absorb all of the information as it sounded quite foreign to us.
On Wednesday morning (21 September 2016), we participated in Community Stream Investigation (“CSI”) with the students and teachers from Kea Farm Primary School. Dr Liau gathered the teachers and the volunteers for a brief introduction of CSI. He also explained the tests, i.e. physical, biological and chemical tests in detail which would help us understand what we were going to do later at the rivers. I was grateful that Melody shared her experience previously which made everything clearer after Dr Liau’s explanation.
We started off with Sungai Bertam, which we call the “dirty river” for the first activity of CSI. As I was seeing Melody and some of the teachers going through the tall bushes into the river, I was relieved that the students and the volunteers did not need to enter the dirty river as mentioned by Melody previously. She mentioned that she does not want us to enter the dirty river as she herself dislikes it since she had done the investigations multiple times. She knew how dirty the river was.
Just as I was having this thought, Dr Liau said that all volunteers should experience it as well and we would need to enter the dirty river to perform CSI with the others! I was shocked but I did as was told. I still wonder how the others made it through the bushes so easily when I was the one struggling through as though I was going to slip down into the river with every single step I took. This was when I realised that I led quite a sheltered life for the past 22 years under the care of my parents.
Melody was shocked but delighted to see the volunteers join the others in the river. At first sight, the river looked muddy but it was not as dirty as I thought it would be. Later I was told that it was due to the heavy rains the past few days which took away part of the stench and the rubbish in the dirty river. We used the net to capture the macro invertebrates in the dirty river and it came to my surprise that I was with all these tiny little creatures for a good whole 20 minutes.
As the teachers and volunteers knew that these are the 1 pointer macro invertebrates, we felt disgusted. Since I was told to hold the container for these creatures, I had no choice but to gather my courage to hold it. It sounds simple, but I was one of those timid persons who is afraid of almost all creepy crawlies. All these macro invertebrates looked just as bad.
Later, the students were gathered around the container to identify them based on the charts prepared. I did not bother looking at the container anymore as I was still frightened but I finally gathered the courage to peek into the containers and realised that it was not that bad after all.
After the investigation in Sungai Bertam, we moved to the clean river which is Sungai Pauh. This was the second time as Melody brought us here 3 days prior and we found so many water pennies here! 
Before entering the river, I walked beside Elucia, Melody’s friend and she told me to keep an ear out for the cry of the resident eagle in the forest reserve. The next thing we saw was the eagle flying! It was a whole new experience as a few of us stopped to see the eagle and we were very happy to see it with our own eyes.
We had to do the same tests in Sungai Pauh to be compared to Sungai Bertam. The chemical tests consist of temperature, electric conductivity, total dissolved solids and PH testing. It was the electric conductivity and total dissolved solids tests that proved that I was too naïve thinking that Sungai Bertam did not look as bad as I thought. The tests results in Sungai Bertam were 9 times worse compared to Sungai Pauh! Moreover, the macro invertebrates we caught in this clean river further proved the cleanliness of this river as they are mostly the 2 pointers and 3 pointers.
The macro invertebrates e.g. dragon fly larvae and riffle beetle found in the clean river were bigger and they did not look as bad as the ones I saw in the dirty river. While I was standing aside observing these macro invertebrates swimming in the containers, I was thinking to myself, thank you these creatures for proving that this river is clean.
During the debriefing session, I was overwhelmed myself as I came to know that I remembered almost everything except for the macro invertebrates names (sorry they are just too long and they are so many of them!). I knew that I remembered everything so well because this was an unforgettable experience that made an impact on me.
This programme brought me closer to the nature, overcame some of my fears (insects, walking through bushes, etc.) and most importantly, the issues that the people in Cameron Highlands are facing. In fact, this is an issue for everyone in Malaysia. I wonder, how many of us are aware of this situation and are actually trying to solve it. The quality of the water is important as it gives us life and keeps us healthy. 4 out of 123 rivers in Cameron Highlands are classified as clean. What about the others? They are contaminated with pesticides and rubbish. This just proves how ignorant, selfish and greedy human beings are. I mean, I may be one of the contributors too. This thought humbled me and I told myself that I will definitely share my experience and spread the awareness to those around me. At this point of time, I finally understand why Melody never gives up explaining to me and the others. Because I know, I will do the same.
Editor’s note
Above picture:Four lovely young ladies volunteering in the montane forests of Cameron Highlands.
From left to right:
Miss Elucia Yong, Miss Ng Sue Sze, Miss Melody Woon and Miss Oon Yan Yan. Our very own Miss Elucia is a graduate teacher majoring in English. Miss Ng works in the tax department in Ernst and Young. Miss Melody, a qualified lawyer is our chief facilitator. While Miss Oon is an auditor, also at Ernst and Young. We thank these 4 lovely ladies for volunteering.