Day 5 : Super Hot Day!

Greetings from Setiu once again! Painting for the team continues today. The team were divided into 3 groups for work today:

Group 1: Eddy, Violet and Shawn

Group 2: Sijie, Sharon and Jian Hui

Group 3: Gladys, Jason and Hamida

Group 1 was all geared up in their Scout uniform to meet the school principal. They started their painting thereafter. Their work attracted attention by the students in Sekolah Mangkuk and many of them were around the mural area during recess. They manage to complete about 90% of the mural painting for the day. Good job guys! :)

Group 2 started off in the morning to continue with paint works at House 2. They had to touch up the doors and windows of the house. The house owner, Cik Rafeah also requested for paintings to be done at the inner part of the windows and door. The group manage to complete the painting before lunch as well.

Group 3 started work only after lunch as they were resting in the morning after their beach patrolling. Group 3 combined with group 2 to repair and replace the zinc roof of House 2. It was a challenge to the groups as this is the first time the group members had to replace a roof top. The heat from the scorching sun also slowed our prodess. However, with the help and advise of Abg Lan and Zul, the roof was successfully replaced with 7 new sets of zinc plates. Cik Rafeah was very pleased and grateful for the team to give her a new coat of paint to the house and also new roof top.

Gladys and Sharon also completed the painting works to the signboards for the mangrove planting at the later part of the day.

After dinner, night classes were held. Tonight, the team taught the children on origami. They kids made flowers, hearts and cranes. As usual, the children enjoyed themselves so much that they refuse to go home right after the end of the lesson.

Two other teams of pairs went for their Beach patrolling at Kuala Bahru and Telaga Papan. Those who went were Sharon and Jian Hui to Kuala Bahru while Shawn and Hamida went to Telaga Papan The team patrolled for whole night and NO turtles were seen to lay eggs. Only could see tracks made by the turtles.

Oh yes, beautiful rainbow seen after a passing shower J 

Tata~

Day 4: Painting Day

Hello everyone! Today is PAINTING DAY! Painting works were concurrently carried out at house no. 1 and 2, and the Penarik Inn hatchery.

Before the house was painted

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the paint we have ordered arrived much later than expected. Although it dampened some of our moods, today has been a rather productive day for all of us! House no. 2 has been painted and we’ll be touching up tomorrow, hatchery signboards have all been nicely decorated and painted.

Men in work

Interesting things happened *ehem* but we shall not go into details. =D

And as usual, children from Kg. Mangkok came over for their nightly English lessons. Violet taught them how to make face masks today. The children are still as playful, hyperactive ecstatic and lovable. =)

Animal masks!

Day 3 : What a day!

It has been three days since the team has arrived in Setiu. Now that we have finalized our program and objectives, we proceeded with the plan in mind. The Operation committee went to the nearest hardware shop to order paints, building materials, wood, zinc roof for our activities. They include the making and installation of signboards at the Hatchery site, new coat of paints for two houses in Kampong Mangkuk  and PEWANIS ‘s office (the Pink House) and murals for the local school. As some materials are not ready bought, it has to be ordered we could not have them immediately. Hence, some plans and activities were re-scheduled.

Meanwhile, the team went to the Hatchery to attempt Nest Excavation at the Hatchery. What we did was to dig out the nest to retrieve the eggs shells as well as the unhatched eggs. Some photos we have:

The group got together after lunch to make the giant signboard for the Penarik hatchery. The signboard will be used as an information board for visitors to learn more about the hatchery and will contain updates about the hatchery. In addition to that, the team will be creating signage for the mangrove swamp for visitors which serve as reminders to be more aware of their actions towards environment. The team worked together from scratch to make the signboard and this includes sawing the wooden planks to painting the wood with undercoat and a second layer of paint with the preferred colour and even the nailing of planks. Below are a couple of photos of the giant signboard the team erected!

Later in the night, an English class was held. The children came and learn how to make mask using paper plates and design an animal on the paper of which they will later use to cover their face. The children with their unique sense of colour gave a rather quirky interpretation of the animal.

In addition, tonight was the first night was Beach patrol for Project Orion III. Two teams of pairs went for their beach patrol at Kuala Bahru and Telaga Papan. Those who went were Gladys and Eddy and Hamida and Jason. Gladys & Eddy patrolled Telaga Papan whilst the second pair patrolled Kuala Bahru.

Team Telaga Papan set off from the beach at around 2220hrs and around 2340hrs, we found the tracks of a turtle. The ranger and the team slowly approach the site and finally found the turtle. The turtle was still in the midst of laying the eggs. After some time, the turtle went back into the sea whilst me, Eddy, helped to dig the nest to collect the eggs which will be brought back to the Hatchery. The number of eggs obtained was 89 which was also the same amount of another nest found further down Telaga Papan by another ranger. Team Telaga Papan then hand over the eggs to Nurul from World Wildlife Fund and we walked a little bit more before resting for the night. We were picked up at 0400hrs to return to Pink House to take a rest. Team Kuala Bahru also had the opportunity to see a Green Turtle returning to sea after laying its eggs. 


It was indeed a fruitful night for the 4 members! 

Written by: Eddy 


Edited by: Gladys




Post from Team Kuala Bahru


After dinner, we rest at Kak Tar's house while waiting for Abg Bi and Wai Si to fetch us to Kuala Bahru. They were held up by some work so we only set off at about 2220hrs. We had to take a boat ride from the jetty near Kak Tar's house in total darkness. It was Hamida's first ride. Another ranger, Abg Zi also followed use for the patrol. 


We had the opportunity to release hatchlings at Kuala bahru. At about 2320hrs, Abg Zi received a call saying that tracks of a green turtle was seen up ahead of Kuala Bahru. So we quickly headed to the site and saw Wai Si, Abg Bi and another ranger cleaning the turtle. She had already laid her eggs and were on the way back to the sea. The WWF team had to clean the barnacles off the turtle so that it will not add weight to the mother turtle. We also saw how the turtle struggled when we overturned it and Wai Si had to sit on it and Abg Zi to cover it's face to calm her down. We took measurements of the mother turtle. She is about 97cm long and 83cm wide. According to Abg Bi, this mother turtle had came up to the beach twice to lay eggs as she has a tag on her. 


The team helped to dig the nest to collect the eggs. Initially, we had some trouble trying to locate the nest but with the experts with us, they were able to locate the nest. The number of eggs obtained was 103. The eggs were then brought back to hatchery by Abg Ha. We continue to patrol. Along the way, we saw another track however, the turtle seemed to make a U-turn and did not lay any eggs. So we continue the search for green turtle or terrapin all the way till the end of Kuala Bahru. We took a rest in the house at the Kuala Bahru Hatchery area. We got back to Kak tar's house at about 8am and took breakfast before we go to sleep.


Malay word of the day: Terappin : Tuntung


Written by: Hamida & Jason 

Day 2: Night Lesson with the Children

We had our dinner after the tour and conducted our night lesson thereafter. The night lesson conducted just a while ago was a blast and both the team as well as the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly with songs and dance activities as part of an English programme for the children!

It has certainly been a long day for the team! Nonetheless, we are looking forward to the next day which we will be making and installing signboards at the Hatchery! So stay tuned for more updates!

Good Night!

Day 2: Tour around Kampong Mangkok

Kak Tar’s cooking is really awesome. After a hearty lunch today, Sijie, our advisor, brought the team to explore the village. We went on bicycles and visited a few areas. Firstly, we went to view the houses that the team will do painting for. There will be 2 houses that Project Orion III will assist to paint for the villagers. So we started off the Tour by heading to both house to access the location and to determine the manpower needed as well as any restoration work to be done, etc. 

Next we went to take a look at the houses previous Orion teams have done repair work or painting for. One house which we visited was Pak Mutasfa’s. He is unemployed and has been suffering from both kidneys’ failure since 2003 and started dialysis since 2004 when he was hospitalized.  Project Orion 1 dug a 6 feet deep compose well and built a proper toilet for the family of 4. Pak Mustafa is now well and receives subsidy for his medical fees from the government.

Thirdly, we rode past the school whereby the team will do a Mural Painting for. Last but not least, the team headed to Pernarik Inn where a Hatchery is built behind the Inn. We went there to take a look at how the Hatchery is built and run. After which, we went to the beach behind the Hatchery and played ‘Ice and Water’ with the infamous Ghost Crabs!

The Primary School where we will do Mural Painting

The Hatchery behind Pernarik Inn

The infamous Ghost Crab!

Day 2: Beach Clean Up

Good day! Project Orion III did a Beach clean up this morning after Breakfast at Kuala Bahru. 6 members made their way to the Beach by taking a boat ride whilst the others took a Car to the Beach.

Boat ride! :D

The team picked up Plastic Bottles, Glass Bottles and other rubbish that were littered around the area. We cleaned up about 500 meters of the Beach and collected about 12 trash bags worth of Plastic Bottles, 5 bags of Glass Bottles and about 8 bags of the other types of litters. After which, we made our way back to Kampong Mangkuk, together with all the items that we have collected at Kuala Bahru. 

Day 1: Start of Project Orion III

The team of 9 gathered at Budget Terminal, Macdonald's on the 16th July, at 0915 hours. Today is the day we all have been anticipating - The beginning of Project Orion III. Once all members reached, we proceeded to check in for our flight to Subang, which we will then transit and take a connecting flight to Terengganu. Our flight to Subang was due to take off at 1130 hours and we entered the Departure Gates by 1000 hours.

The team ready to enter the Departure Gates!

One of our team members, Sharon, met us at Subang Terminal and the entire team gathered once again, upon arrival at Subang Terminal. We went for lunch at MacDonald’s before boarding our connecting flight to Terengganu. We finally arrived at Terengganu around 1630 hours and the 9 of us split into groups of 3 to take Taxis to the Pink House, where we will be residing throughout the duration of our project.

The Pink House is the headquarters of the local women’s community group known as Persatuan Wanita Kampung Mangkok Seitu (PEWANIS).

Having settled down at the Pink House and changed out of our uniforms, we went to Kak Tar’s house for dinner. Kak Tar is the President of PEWANIS and she will be preparing all our meals whilst we are here in Kampong Mangkuk.

After dinner, the team went back to the Pink House and were joined by a few members from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), namely Nurul, Farizan, Ima, Ain. We discussed and finalized the activities that the team will engage in during our time here in Kampong Mangkuk.  

At the end of the discussion, the team was ready to retire for the night and we were all tired from the traveling and planning activities. However, we were eager for the programes for Project Orion III to begin.

Please come back tomorrow for more updates on Project Orion III.

Thank you & Good Night!