Jahmain bin Jave

Pre-SULAM

1. Since I am a former resident of Allamanda college, I already had a clear picture of the pest problem that occur in the community partner site. Most of the furniture installed in every room was made of wood and there is a high tendency of a termite attack to occur. Most of our zoology senior have done some study about the termite infestation that occur in this area. Some of them are proposing a 'DIY' or a simple tips that can be done to control the termite population. Since, the study of termite problem was quite popular from past year. I can get a clear picture that termite problem was the major pest problem that occur in the residential area. 
2. Before deciding to proceed with the project title, I manage to contact the principal of Allamanda college, Dr. Muhamad Sophian which most of the resident called Pak Pian. Pak Pian also agree that termite problem was a major pest problem in the area. Since Allamanda college has been 15 years old since its first recieving student as a resident, many of the furniture and the building structure can be considered as old and termite may attack as the furniture was built by woods. My first perception was, the college management will be very supportive of this project since it gives benefits and awareness toward the residents about the termite problem that area currently occur. Since, no one is staying in the college right now, because of the pandemic and movement control order, it give chances for the next resident to prepare and aware about this problem and take precautions needed to adapt with the termite problem. 
3. The selection of problem that our group want to work with was based on our long discussion among the group member. Since the Service learning itself required us to choose a community that mainly focused on a community in Sarawak, I suggested to conduct the project in Allamanda college and focused about termite problem. Since 2 of the group member has already stayed at the college it is easier for us to conduct the survey and collect information. Other than that, all the group members also has the experience staying in Allamanda college. Therefore, all of us are aware about the termite problem that occur in the area. 
4. The fear that I have working with the community was a poor participation and support either from the college staff and the former residents itself. Since the targeted community was also a student, I am afraid that they will have no time to participate in our survey. Other than that, I also afraid that all of our electronic media, such as poster and infographic wasn't interesting enough to attract people to follow our social media platforms. However, thanks for my group member for their termendous effort for making the information portrayed in our social media platforms as attractive as possible. 

During-SULAM

1. During conducting the SULAM project, it helps me better to understand my responsibilities and roles as a citizens that are studying in the University. As a student, we have the opportunity to learned about many new things that maybe the people out there will never get. As a zoology student, I can contribute my knowledge to the society especially to deal with pest problem and share the skills and experience to other people. I also learned that, my role as a student is very crucial to act as a medium for sharing  an information especially for people that do not have a prior knowledge about the content of the information itself.
2. During conducting the project, I manage to enhance my skill in using new editing software and building websites. I realize that, creating an interesting poster and infographic was very crucial to convey the information that we want to highlight especially when your are spreading an awareness campaign to attract peoples attention. Other than that, me myself was not quite attracted to termite problem before conducting the e-SULAM project. However, during conducting the project I manage to learn new things such as the species of termite, ways controling the termite population and some useful information on how do they invade the human household. It might help me if the same things happen in my own house later. Lastly, I also enhanced my skills in writing a formal cover letter that has been sent to the community partner. It will help me in the future, if I were to invite anyone formally. 
3. This project is actually very helpful to understand the main ideas that being learned in the pest management courses. We can practically analyse the problem that are happening in our community partner site. Form there, we are actually implementing the knowledge that we learn from the courses itself. 
4. The character traits that I can say I have further develop while doing this project was, to develop a new skill in using editing software and the knowledge on how to build websites. I have a dream so long ago to build my own websites. Now, I already develop the interest to continue to achieve that dream to build my own websites and maybe I will share about many things about zoology stuffs in the websites. I will start working on this later after I graduated from this program which will very soon. 
5. The skill that I gain from conducting this service learning project will be very useful when I entered the working environment soon. Since the world now was advancing from industrial revolution with a further new advancement of technology, the soft skills are very important to compete with everyone with the same or maybe higher qualifications. The knowledge and experience gain from this service learning, can be apply to my community at my hometown. 
6. The service learning helps me to connect to my long terms goals by making me to realize that we need to contributes to the society. Everything that we do must give a positive impact towards the society. Hence, the action to spread the awareness of the termite infestation among the community can be considered that we have fulfilled our responsibility as a citizen for sharing the knowledge to other citizen that do not have a proper knowledge about this topic. Therefore, as a student, it makes me realize that the knowledge that we learn today will helps us to contribute more on the future. 

Post-SULAM

1. Two things that I have learned about the targeted community are, they are quite supportive about this study, either the college staff and the students itself. Next, I found out that the community was aware about the termite problem in the residential area, however most of them never reported the problem to the college management because in my opinion the problem was not really severe and still manageable.
2. The strength of the project, I think we have choose the correct and suitable platforms to convey and share the information about termite infestation among the former residents of Allamanda college. Since most and majority of the student are using Instagram, it is a suitable platform to spread the awareness. Other than that, this platform is always accessible to everyone. The weakness of this project was, we are not able to directly communicate with the community. Our group did not plan any virtual meetings with the targeted community to assess their understanding about the termite infestation problem. The only method we used to communicate with the community was using Google form where they need to answer a few question about the termite problem and through Instagram platform. 
3. The General problem that my group had encountered during conducting the service learning was the poor internet connection. Some of them cannot join the online meeting because of this problem. However we are still manage to contact with each other through WhatsApp. Other than that, during this pandemic in addition with a lot of workload being assign to us,  everyone will be having their own personal problem that distracting them to give their best performance to complete their own part and task. Therefore, I am really grateful for my team members to be able to complete this project in the end. 
4. In my humble opinion, the main objective of this project is to spread the awareness about termite problem among the Allamanda college resident was achieved. Other than that, since we are collaborating with Allamanda college management, we also manage to prepare a poster to the college management about the termite problem including ways to control the termite problem in the residential area. We hope that this small study will help the Allamanda college management to more aware about the termite problem in the residential area. 
5. The impact of this project can be portrayed by the community feedback form that has been prepared by our group members. The feedback forms was spread to the targeted community for them to answer. Most of them stated that they have gain new information regarding the termite problem that will be useful and can be practiced at their own house. 
6. The most important lesson that I have learned from this service learning is that, we need to establish a good communication between group members. Since we are all separated by distance because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is very important to communicate with all the group members to ensure that no one is lost. I also learned that, we need to adapt fast with the new normal situation as this is a new environment for us as a student as well as the instructor itself. Apart from that, I also learned that we can make use of any tools and platform that we didn't think of useful before this but it tend to be useful in current situation. Lastly, I also learned that, it is the responsibility of the community with a certain knowledge to share the information to the group of community that do not have a prior knowledge of this pest problem. 
7. I believe the most important thing to conduct a successful service learning is to have a proper and well planned strategy and work plan about the project that will be conducted. Without a proper discussion within the group members itself, it may lead to a unsuccessful project. Other than that, all members should have a proper understanding about the project itself. If there are any members that are not into the project it might affect the success of the service learning project. Apart from that, a well established communication among the targeted community also important to prevent any misunderstanding and conflicts between both parties. 
8. Yes if our group were given a chance to conduct the service learning project once more, I would rather to do it face-to-face with the targeted community. The objective to spread awareness will be maintained however the implementation part will be a bit different. I will suggest to do a mini exhibition about termite problem among the targeted community. There will be a few activities such as quizes, talks from professionals and many other activities can be planned. However if the pandemic still occur and we cannot do a face to face activity, I will suggest an additional activity such as inviting an expert to give a talk about termite problems.