a. The project aims to introduce a sustainable way to convert organic waste into a useful product that could either be used at home, or sold. It also aims to engage with the villagers with fun scientific experiment and environmental awareness.

b. Yes. Penang Youth Development Centre (PYDC), School of Chemical Engineering USM, Chemical Engineering Student Society USM, Encik Suami Restaurant Nibong Tebal, Penang, and GCert System.

c. Our project reached out to a small village in Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang which is Kg. Sungai Buaya that is known for their agricultural activities and a landmark which is a Taman Negeri Bukit Panchor, Pulau Pinang. We have come to their village to teach them a new way to benefit from their agricultural waste and engage with them with fun experiment activities, which have received many positive feedbacks from the participants and the supporting sponsors.

d. Yes. Our project conflicted a lot with the General Election Season as it delayed our project to December 2023 (original plan to be in November 2023). We faced roadblocks when we visited the area to do our preparation and promotion during the general election season. A lot of the villagers also refused to join our programme as they thought it was a political campaign or propaganda. Due to the less known and quite deep location of the village, the outsiders who were interested in our programme couldn't really attend the programme on the day.

e. No language/culture barriers.

f. On the day, the programme went smoothly and everyone enjoyed the activities. We managed to bring students as well to join the programme. What didn't work well was not all the villagers participated in the programme as we hoped, however, at the end of the day it has brought a lot of attention to the villagers as the programme seemed very "happening" that day and they saw the ecoenzyme product made from their organic waste which made them more interested. The community agreed to have another programme like this again and they will surely participate more.

g. 166 people in total. 106 local university students, 28 local villagers, and 32 locals around the village.

h. In short-term, we will keep up the awareness of the program where in 3 months time of the ecoenzyme fermentation, the participants will be updated of their own products to keep up their excitement and anticipation for it. In long-term, we believe that we have promoted a new activity for the villagers especially the children who enjoyed making the ecoenzyme. It is a healthy and good activity for them to fill up their leisure. Promoted a potential business for the villagers where they can sell their ecoenzyme to the public. Thus, we believe there is a future for our project.

a. 

(i) Our project not only shares knowledge, but it shares knowledge with joy. We promoted engaging activities that strengthened the bond between villagers and all other participants of the project. During the event day, we could see all the people and even children enjoying their little experiment to create beneficial products that they even went back and gathered more materials to create more ecoenzymes. We also had games like lucky draw sessions to give all participants useful housewares which made them very happy with their prizes. 

In short-term, we will keep up the awareness of the program where in 3 months time of the ecoenzyme fermentation, the participants will be updated of their own products to keep up their excitement and anticipation for it.  

In long-term, we believe that we have promoted a new activity for the villagers especially the children who enjoyed making the ecoenzyme. It is a healthy and good activity for them to fill up their leisure. Promoted a potential business for the villagers where they can sell their ecoenzyme to the public 

(ii) We were not only helping villagers of Kampung Sungai Buaya for cleaning up organic waste, we also helped other communities around the area (Parit Buntar, Perak and Jawi, Kedah) to clean up the waste as we went around to search and collect their waste.  

We have learned a lot about the production of organic waste daily and how concerning it is in terms of waste management. It is important to manage the organic waste well. We have also gained great teamwork skills when organizing the project, improved communication skills with villagers and all people when promoting the project. We were happy to see a lot of communities being helpful and interested to know more about students’ programme.  

We gave ecoenzyme products to all participants, in hope that they can use them in their household as cleaning agents and save money to buy detergents or other multi-purpose cleaning or fertilizing solutions. This will help them economically in the rising global economy crisis as they do not need to go out and buy chemical cleaning or fertilizing products as they can create their own organic solution for the same purposes. They could also sell back the ecoenzyme products that they have as their side-income. Thus, they could save time, money, energy, and health.  

We have also learned that political issues are more sensitive to Malaysians than we thought they were. It could actually affect the bond in our society, as how it affected our project implementation progress. From our project, we could see that when we organized programmes like this that also promoted great knowledge-sharing and bonding, slowly it improved the relationship between the people. We believe that we need more programmes that could “neutralize” the tension between society post-PRU. 

b. "Environmental care not only benefits the environment, but it benefits us all environmentally, socially, and economically. Take care of the environment, and it will take care of us." - Jacinta R. James.