The Star Metro, NORTH: Monday December 6, 2010
Having a ball
By MANJIT KAUR
manjit@thestar.com.my
A TOTAL of 1,500 volunteers from Hope International Ministries did not mind getting their hands dirty out of their concern for Mother Nature.
They went ahead to produce a record of 20,000 micro-organism mud balls in Penang.
It was believed to be the biggest gathering ever for such an event.
The volunteers were not only from all over Malaysia, but some even came from Singapore and Taiwan including foreign students enrolled in local colleges.
Those from the foreign countries were amazed by the technology used. According to them, they had never heard or made such mud balls before.
To ensure a speedy process, five mixers were used to mix the ingredients including soil and rice husk to produce what is called ‘Beneficial Indigenous’ micro-organism.
Environmental effort: Several volunteers preparing the mud balls for distribution.
The volunteers, dressed in orange, red and blue T-shirts started to make the mud balls as fast as possible, and within an hour their work was accomplished during the event yesterday.
“My team including me were just amazed and excited,” said Jessica Jen, a pastor of Hope Church in Taipei.
The 39-year-old said it was the group’s first visit here and they did not mind getting their hands dirty.
She said eight church members were present to lend a helping hand.
“Months ago we were given a briefing by our counterparts from Penang on the event, and we immediately agreed to participate,” she added.
The event, part of the state’s ‘Cleaner, Greener Penang’ initiative, started at 2pm at a car park near Komtar Walk.
It was jointly organised by Hope Penang, the state government and both local councils here with the cooperation from Hope International Ministries.
Leong Chung Nang, 32, said this was the first time that his 17 church members from Singapore were making mud balls.
The engineer said as far as he was concerned, he had not seen Singaporeans making such mud balls.
There were also several foreign students, who were all geared up for it. Among them were Linda Ingabire, 20, a banking and finance student from Multimedia University in Malacca, and Ido Anietie, 21, a computer science student from Inti International College Kuching.
Anietie, who originates from Nigeria said it was “cool” to help making the environment cleaner, while Ingabire from Uganda said she had never heard of such a technology back home.
Southwest district environment coordinator Sim Tze Tzin said the mud balls made would be left to ferment and dry.
Sim, who is also the Pantai Jerejak assemblyman, said 5,000 mud balls that had already been fermented were the ones that were thrown into the nearby Prangin Canal.
Sim said he was grateful to Hope for its time and effort to ensure the success of the event.
The volunteers then proceeded to the canal at about 3.30pm and they had fun tossing the mud balls in. The technology is known to stop algae growth and break down sludge in ponds, lakes, rivers and drains.
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