A group of six UTAR Media and Creative Studies Final Year students from the UTAR Faculty of Creative Industries collaborated with students in the UTAR New Village Community Project "We Care We Act" to carry out community services at Kampung Sungai Janggut in Jeram, Selangor. This is also their final year project in support of charity and community services. The project was named ‘Reconnecting Nature: Introducing Kampung Bagan Sungai Janggut’.
Group photo of UTAR Media and Creative Studies Final Year students with their supervisors and student helpers
Under the supervision of two lecturers from the Faculty, students worked with the villagers to understand their livelihood and village culture. The village is predominantly a fishing village and has much to offer to visitors and tourists who can savor the fresh seafood and its products especially jellyfish. The village is about 30 minutes’ drive from Klang and an hour and a half from Kuala Lumpur. The villagers are mostly Hokkien based community who are involved in fishing and related food industry.
According to Mr Tan Thiam Hock, the village chief of Kampung Sungai Janggut, the village was named after an old man who had an unusually long beard in the village. Since the village did not have a name at that time, villagers coined the village as “Kampung Sungai Janggut” to represent their village.
The fishermen here catch a lot of fresh seafood and jellyfish has always been the main highlight of this village. They have used the jellyfish creatively to make drinks and sweet jelly dessert other than the normal savory dishes. To promote the main catch of the village, students have helped to make a “Jellyfish” mascot in order to create a strong brand identity for this village and the mascot can be used to promote the village during its various village events.
The students worked closely with the community to study the challenges faced by the villagers and the possible assistance that can be provided. Being a rustic fishing village, the potential for tourism to enhance the economic activities in the village, prompted the students to promote Kampung Janggut as a tourist attraction to encourage more people to the village .Throughout the duration of 20 weeks, the students worked with the village community on the project. The students conducted various interviews and discussions with the village head and the community and came out with a five-stage plan that involved education and activities on recycling awareness, beautification activities, creating attractive tourism activities, promotional and advertising activities and finally the launch of the project to the public. Throughout the five stages, the students provided education and ground assistance to the villagers.
As part of the village beautification project, students painted murals to beautify the village. Education on recycling and waste collection was also done to keep the village clean. Map boards have also been placed in the village for the convenience of the visitors and travelers to locate the public amenities. Directional signs and interesting places to visit and highlights of the village were also placed on signboards to notify visitors and direct them to the various venues in the village.
This Kg Janggut project was launched recently by Datuk Seri Ir. Dr. Wee Ka Siong at UTAR Sungai Long Campus on 23 November 2017 in conjunction with the launch of the UTAR New Village e-Commerce project. E-commerce was also introduced to the villagers to educate them on the advantages of selling their products and promoting their village online. Mr Tan, the Village Head and some of his villagers were present at the launching ceremony.
The team of students has also carefully picked a hashtag #RECONNECTINGNATURE for their project in the hope of getting more people especially those who resides in the hustle and bustle of a city life to reconnect back to nature with their loved ones.
Thanks to our generous sponsors from Frulato, Warrior Energy Drinks, Loca Made, Kampung Sungai Janggut's Tian Hou Temple, Mahir Tenggara Sdn Bhd, Crown Furniture, Dr Ko Skin Specialist, Simplee, and Konica Minolta who have come on board to support this project whole heartedly to make it a success.
To know more about Kampung Sungai Janggut, please log on to: https://www.facebook.com/KampungSungaiJanggut/.
Datuk Seri Ir Dr Wee Ka Siong (right) launched the UTAR New Village Community Project with UTAR President Ir Prof Academician Dato’ Dr Chuah Hean Teik
Photography session at the Kampung Sungai Janggut exhibition booth
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