Community project: A group of secondary school students has pledged to rebuild a village community hall in Penampang, Sabah with money to be made from "rubbish".
The students from SM St Michael plan to sell handicraft made from the rubbish collected from Kampung Kibambangan and use the proceeds to refurbish the open community hall.
Theone-year project, dubbed Turning Waste into Millions, is part of “All About Youth” programme funded by Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) which inspire to encourage youths to contribute to the betterment of the nation.
Project director Danya Jill Lingkapo, 16, said they will go to the village every week to collect recyclable things such as papers, aluminium, compact discs, and glass from the community.
“In turn, we will introduce to the villagers on 3R (Reuse, Recycle and Reduce) concept and how to make handicraft from waste products.
“The finished products will later be sold with prices ranging from RM5 to RM15 each,” she said after briefing the village head Michael Kubot and other Village Development and Security Committee members (JKKK) on their project.
Once they get enough money from the sales, those students will work on rebuilding and repainting the dilapidated community hall located next to Sungai Putaton.
The area, which implements a community-based fisheries resource management system known as “tagal”, is also a popular picnic ground in the district.
Earlier, the school principal Mary Yong signed memorandum of understanding with the villagers on the one-year project.
It was witnessed by district officer Luvita Koisun and Sabah Environmental Protection Association representatives.
“We want to protect the environment by emphasising recycling practices among the public especially at Kampung Kibambangan as it is our foster village.
“By doing so, we hope the village can be turned into ecotourism destination to generate more income for the locals,” said Yong, adding she hoped the project would also instil good value among students.
SM St Michael is among 15 secondary schools in Sabah chosen to be part of the programme.
Each school was given a start-up fund of RM2,000 to work on their social responsibility projects in respective areas. Winning school will represent the state for the grand finale in Kuala Lumpur.
Grand prize of a school refurbishment fund worth RM50,000 and each participating student will get RM1,000.
Comments
Post a Comment