EK Newsletter - September 2017
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Message From President of EcoKnights,
Yasmin Rasyid.
Over the past month, the media has featured many stories on the state of rivers in the country, with a strong emphasis on the current government effort called River of Life. As the vein of the country, the rivers (today and the past) serve many important functions in our lives, although you may not take notice of it. In Malaysia, the rivers are still the main source of drinking water for us. It also serves as our transportation needs, and for some communities, rivers are their livelihood as it provides economic opportunities.
My personal journal on river conservation started when I was 22 years old, Twenty years later, as much as how policies and environmental awareness has improved (a wee bit), we are still stuck with severe river-related issues. From river pollution, to floods, our rivers have suffered a serious bashing from all our man-made activities. This has to stop. First class facilities are meaningless if we, as users of rivers, don’t have the heart or mentality to even have the common sense to take care of the very ecological system that provides us with water, services and food.
That’s why for the month of September, I would love to invite all of you to join me as we celebrate rivers, and most importantly, address the critical issues we face with the aim and hope of reducing our detrimental impacts on the rivers. EcoKnights as a partner to Local Agenda 21 under the Kuala Lumpur is part of the Sungai Bunus Community Committee and on World Rivers Day which falls on 24th September, is a global celebration to get all riverine communities to come out and spend time to volunteer in river clean-up activities, conduct awareness and education activities, and also to advocate for better managed waterways. More information about it is listed below but I hope this is a program in which we can all come together, and get our rivers back to as near natural again. It’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. But we need to start somewhere and now is more important than ever.
See you at our World Rivers Day celebration on September 24th from 8 am to 12 pm in Sungai Bunus.
CELEBRATE WORLD RIVERS DAY WITH ECOKNIGHTS!Join the Knights on 24th September in four different locations along Sungai Bunus (Taman Sungai Bunus, Kolam Setapak Jaya, Kolam Tadahan Banjir Boyan dan Kolam Titiwangsa) and the partners of the Sungai Bunus Community Committee, Local Agenda 21, and the Kuala Lumpur City Council as we gather to spruce up Sungai Bunus in conjunction with the global World Rivers Day celebration. 
EcoKnights Travelled Up to North for the Penang International Green CarnivalOn the 9th and 10th September, EcoKnights participated as a partner in the Penang International Green Carnival (PIGC). Organized by Penang Green Council at Setia SPICE Arena, Bayan Baru, the carnival aimed to educate the public about climate change and taking action under the slogan ‘Against Climate Change Together (ACCT), Now!’ 
EcoKnights Initiates KLEAR (Klang Learning, Engagement and Action on River) with Kerayong Riverine CommunityUnder the Phase 3A Public Outreach Program of the River of Life (ROL) national effort, the EcoKnights River team together with ERE Consulting, and engineers from Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) organized a community dialogue with four different riverine community groups of Sungai Kerayong at the International Youth Centre (IYC) on 9th September. The community groups which participated in the community dialogue are from Razak Mansion, JKR Kuarters, Flat Sri Johor and Rumah Panjang Ikan Emas. 
Sungai Bunus Committee Stakeholders Visits River to Assess and Learn About Challenges of Sungai BunusA river walk and assessment was conducted today among the partners of the Sungai Bunus Committee under the Local Agenda 21 effort of Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL). The river walk aims to get the community members and partners to understand the issues and challenges faced by Sungai Bunus and to stimulate the generation of ideas or solutions which are viable to address the rehabilitation and restoration of the river. 
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ECOKNIGHTS AS A PARTNER IN PETROSAINS SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2017From 15th – 17th September, Petrosains will be organizing the Petrosains Science Festival Kuala Lumpur in which EcoKnights is a partner of the event. Check out the link for more information on the science festival as well as EcoKnights’ involvement. 
KLEFF 2017: REGISTRATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY FORUM SERIES, TALKS & WORKSHOPS AND ECO FILM SCREENINGS IS OPEN!We are a month away from the 10th Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival and if you haven’t checked out the festival, head over to the KLEFF website to view the exciting and educational programs during the festival. If you are keen on sustainability in different kinds of fields, register for the Sustainability Forum Series in which you will be empowered by leaders and advocates of sustainability. The forum series include:
Looking for fun and informational activities that involves hands-on during the weekend? We have a list of talks and workshops that you can look forward to such as Culturing Effective Microbes, Backyard Composting, Sape Class for Beginners, Macro Photography and Pop Up Farms in The City, to name a few. You can register yourself here! Film screening is one of the main highlights of KLEFF and the committee has extended from 3 days of screening to 7 days, screening 86 local and international environmental, cultural and indigenous films. You wouldn’t want to miss them as most of the films are new and are only screened in film festivals. The screening schedule is out and you can get your screening passes here. 
What Our Interns Say – Anis NadiaAs I'm writing this, I'm waiting for my laundry to finish. Life after internship is actually quite boring but I'm filling my time (post-EcoKnights) by hanging out with friends and preparing for my MasterS in the upcoming September. EcoKnights was my third choice out of six organizations that I applied for and partly due to my family’s decision who wanted me to do my internship at Semenanjung. It means that no more Sabah, no more freedom *laughs*. On my first day of internship, I wondered how the environment would be. When I went to the EcoKnights’ office for the first time, I was greeted by Joy and Nabs. Then I had the first meeting with Mr. Fadly Bakhtiar or Fabs who is the Programme Director of EcoKnights. From then onwards, something inside me knew that this will turn out great. 
During my six months of internship, I gained a lot of experiences, from meeting with corporates to handling workshops, film screenings and partnerships. My friends and I always talk about our life during internship and I realised that I was given so many opportunities at EcoKnights (most of them I didn't realise until after my internship) and all of them was to improve myself. Fabs always say that life is about improving and that we keep improving from day to day. I didn't realise my flaws until I've been pushed to my limits (thanks to Mok because she always keeps pushing me). From there, I know how to improve myself to do better in the future. Furthermore, the working environment is also great! For the first time in my life, I felt a sense of belonging. There was no need to hide your true colours. At EcoKnights we accept all kinds of people from all walks of life. I never thought that I would have not one, but two super cool bosses, Yasmin and Fabs, who always believed in us, the interns – that we have much more than academic knowledge inside of us. |
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