Khatulistiwa's CSR project

For the past month we have been paving the 1 km only access road leading to the Raja Musa peat swamp. 5 lorry trips, 6 tonnes of rock and sand, countless hours of shoveling, lots of caffeine, so many days of body ache, a thousand mosquito bites, cuts, bruises, sweat and a couple of arguments, negotiations, phone calls, piles of dirty clothes later….We finally finished it last Tuesday :)

We had the time of our lives!

When the request came to look for a sponsor to pave the road, Khatulistiwa was about a month old. The road needed to be repaired to make it accessible for better transportation of tools, volunteers’ food, the marcots and the toilets, so that volunteers did not have had to carry these along the 1km road, plant trees until mid day and then walk the 1km road back again to their cars.

What better way to boost company morale than a CSR initiative of our own. Sort of a walk the talk. It fell in line with the company CSR policy which is connecting the dots, between the persons wanting to help and avenues needing help. Hence we used our first principle - 4R – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and decided to repair the road.

Repairing an unpaved road? ok, we can handle that.. Some physics, some engineering and some psychology.. ahh should be able to nail it. So yes, it didn't seem like much in the beginning. Just a simple job, get in there, pave the road, get out. Oh, how we were proved wrong!

Using sustainable way of living and reuse concept meant we had to find discarded rocks and sand piles to bring to “our” road, and we found lots of those, right in our taman. Its amazing what people throw out! So we dove right into work, bought ourselves a shovel each and started “work” every day at 9am, shoveling rocks into gunny sacks. At about 2pm, the lorry arrives and we then shovel our “treasure” and transport them to Raja Musa. During this time, we received lots of random kindness from strangers who helped us to shovel rocks, right up to loading 40 to 50 sacks onto the lorry.

Every day, this was our clock in and clock out at our office at wherever the rock piles were. Sometimes, we “did” the road at night, under the full moon light and return home from our “office in the wilderness” at 3 am!

As our way of saying Thank You to all tree planters past, present and future, to GEC and Forestry Malaysia for all the great effort they have and continue to put in to revive the Raja Musa Peat Swamp Forest, we sponsored an information board for them. So the next time you are at Raja Musa Peat Swamp, please take a look at the info board and pass the word around on how and ways we can revive the forest.

for pictures on FB please click
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=181671&id=704801869&saved#!/album.php?aid=181671&id=704801869

Khatulistiwa comes to "first aid" rescue

Khatulistiwa will be assisting Reach.Org in their quest in helping the homeless in Kuala Lumpur. Starting this Saturday, for the next 8 Saturdays, Petri and Shyam will be offering basic first aid treatment for the homeless at Daya Bumi.

The call for medical help was answered after Shyam was contacted by Reach.Org, after their resident nurse, Jessica, had to go for a 2 month break.

Although Petri and Shyam are certified first aiders, Khatulistiwa is still looking for volunteer doctors who can spare an hour on Saturdays to help out. Help is needed for 8 Saturdays starting 18 June 2010 from 5.30 to 6.30pm. All medicine and dressing materials are provided. For more info, please contact Shyam at shyam@khatulistiwa.com.my

Khatulistiwa to "green" Zainal Abidin's 30th Green Anniversary Concert

Who could ever forget Zainal's Hijau? The song that we listened to while growing up nurtured inside us a love for the environment. So it is indeed an honour to work with the man himself.

Zainal's upcoming concert, themed 30th Green Anniversary Concert, will be a 3 hour celebration of his success and contribution in the music industry. In line with the environmental issues that has developed into one of the main concern in the society, the concert aims to offer a unique close-to-nature experience and will be held amidst the lust jungle of Kl Tower.

Khatulistiwa will be collaborating with Zainal's AfroZapin Network Sdn Bhd to fill the day with interesting green activities, keeping to the theme of the concert. We will update our blog with latest updates and news about the concert, so please do visit us often.

Thanks for dropping by. See you soon!

Being. Doing. Together.
Khatulistiwa