Perdik Waterfalls : Not Your Average Sunday Afternoon

Imagine the sounds and sights of nature. To be protected by the shade of huge bamboo shoots, the cool stream touching your feet while the insects sing their songs. To reach this state of bliss in paradise, a group of AFS students had to go through more than ten soiled diapers, mountains of plastic bottles and endless piles of wasted plastic bags. This is the tale of how I and my fellow comrades,”MAJLIS PERBANDARAN AFS”, cleaned up the disgustingly filthy Perdik Waterfall of Ulu Langat.

We departed rather late thanks to my tardiness. As I entered the bus that would bring us to the destination of our cleanup mission, I was disappointed by the small number of AFSers. Although we were a small group it didn’t mean we didn’t get the job done, for we accomplished great heights on that eventful day. Once we arrived on Ulu Langat soil, we were briefed by the lovely Cheng Yee, AFS Alumni Committee President and her equally charming Vice President, Suraya. We started with a few ice breaking games before getting our hands dirty, literally of course. We were divided into groups of five, to scavenge for rubbish. The group with the highest amounts of rubbish would face the promise of a treat from Starbucks.

If I do recall accurately, we spent almost two hours searching high and low for all types of rubbish. Amongst the “treasures” uncovered were the usual plastic bags and plastic bottles, but what proved more surprising were a used up barbeque pit, car tires, stinky socks and the jackpot, soiled diapers collected mainly by the courageous Jon Wern. Judging by the way he collected those diapers fearlessly, proved that he sure is going to make one heck of a loving dad someday. Everyone did a decent job collecting rubbish and by the end of it we had filled out the twenty black huge garbage bags.

We didn’t travel all the way to Ulu Langat to just collect rubbish; we AFSer work hard as well as play hard. So of course we enjoyed a mesmerizing forty five minute hike to the waterfall. At first all I could concentrate on was reaching the waterfall quick enough to avoid being the victim of leeches, but halfway through I looked away from the leeches and fell in love with nature. We were so lucky to be in the very depths of Mother Nature’s territory. We enjoyed a relaxing picnic on the rocks by the waterfall, feasting on sandwiches, “keropok”, cake and fried chicken together with each other’s stories and shared lame jokes.

By the end of it all, we were exhausted but reluctant to leave the once filthily disgusting place. We looked at the twenty black garbage bags brimming with rubbish from our sheer sweat and blood. I mention blood not to be melodramatic ,but blood was involved as several of us couldn’t escape the wraths of those blasted leeches. All in all it was a joyful experience, yet no matter how much fun we had as a team, it saddens me that even today some people can be so ignorant and easily pollute and strip away the beauty and marvels that nature has offered to us. It’s time we made a change.

Written by: Arththi Sathananthar ( Italy IP 05/06 &YES programme 07)
Edited by: Suyin
Photo courtesy of CNU @ cnu-cama.blogspot.com