By Izzud deen Redzuan
MARANG, 15 November 2015: It was indeed both a rewarding and memorable experience for most participants who took part in the field research trip to Terengganu recently.
A total of 84 students, including international students, from the Department of Communication, arrived at Anguilla Beach Resort in Marang in three IIUM buses on Friday (13 November) afternoon. They left Gombak campus earlier at 8.30 a.m.
The students were impressed with the beach scenery as well as the warmth given by the resort staff that greeted them on arrival.
At night the participants were given a briefing on their schedule and the questionnaire by the Head of Department of Communication, Dr. Zeti Azreen Ahmad and the Director of Communication and Media Centre, Mazni Buyong.
The next morning, all students and the academic staff gathered for breakfast before heading to respective villages – Kg. Rhu Muda, Kg. Baru Rhu Muda and Kg. Seberang Marang – where they have been assigned to collect the data.
It was a sunny day and students were very excited to conduct the research with the fishing villagers, especially for those who were on their first time trip to Terengganu.
Amira Mesawi, a student from Tunisia, described the fishing villagers in Marang as œfriendly and humble people that you cant find anywhere else”.
“They welcome us to their house and offered some food and drink while we carried out the survey, she said.
Another student from Indonesia said, œThe villagers may not be rich and modern as those in the cities, but they were all  very friendly and cooperative in helping us to complete our research.
Meanwhile, one respondent, Ibrahim, a pensioner from Kg. Seberang Marang told the students, œWe are happy to see many students come here today to conduct research. Hopefully the finding from the research will benefit all Marangs fishing villagers.
He insisted that students should come to Marang in the future but suggested that they organise the ˜anak-angkat programme with the locals and to have an experience making ˜keropok lekor and ˜satar, the Terengganu specialty.
The research was smoothly conducted and ended at about 5.00 p.m. It achieved the target of getting response from around 600 respondents with the help of Marangs rural committee or the Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK).
While waiting for sunset and dinner time, the students took the opportunity to walk around the beach and to have fun together with group members to create a memorable moment before heading back to Kuala Lumpur the next day.
Apart from coursework assignment, this trip also strengthened the ukhwah and relationship between students and lecturers.
The students were later rewarded with a ‘sweet escape’ to Kuala Terengganu to visit Crystal Mosque located at the Islamic Heritage Park. It’s a beautiful mosque with splendid structure made of steel, glass, crystal and colour lightning.
On the last day (Sunday), before departing for ‘home’, students had the chance to shop for some Marang ˜keropok lekor made by local entrepreneurs.
All students and lecturers arrived safely back at the Gombak campus at 4.00 p.m. ***
Photo of Juliana Zakaria