By Dewi Amira Dania Radin Ariff
From the 24th to the 30th of September, an IIUM delegation of two Deputy Deans and seven students from the Kulliyyah of Medicine (KOM) were invited to Universitas Ciputra (UC) Surabaya, Indonesia, to participate in the Summer Camp 2023 as a part of UC’s “Embracing Sustainability” Flagship International Event 2023. The IIUM KOM delegation comprised the Deputy Dean of Student Development and Community Engagement, Dr. Soraya Ismail; the Deputy Dean of Academic and Internationalisation, Prof. Dr. Mohd. Aznan Md Aris; KOM students, Balqis Afifah Irwandi, Millatiy Almunawwaroh Zikro, Liew Chin Teng, Ahmad Malek Hazim Ahmad Latifi, Luqman Hasan Junet, Muhammad Irfan Hakim Amri and myself.
This event was conducted with the intention to increase student mobility and cross-cultural exchange in medicine. The flagship event included a wide range of activities ranging from seminars to workshops. The opening ceremony was officiated by the Rector of Universitas Ciputra, Ir. Yohannes Somawiharja, M.Sc. The opening remarks were given by the American Consul General, Mr. Jonathan Alan.
One of the most memorable activities of this event was going on a fieldtrip to ECOTON, a foundation that focuses on saving and protecting the Brantas River in East Java through advocacy and participation from the public to see the effects of single use plastic on rivers and why we should be aware of this dire situation. It unquestionably taught me a lot on why we as a community should respect our rivers, and how rivers are an essential source of water for many individuals.
When this major source is polluted with plastic and toxic waste, a great deal of people are affected. We had the chance to do hands on work such as collecting water samples to examine under a microscope, and we got to see with our own eyes the presence of micro-plastic in the water. While we commonly hear through word of mouth or advertisements on the pollution of rivers, we often do not realise how big the problem is until we see it for ourselves.
Another activity that was held was a Denim Waste Recycle Workshop. We were given scrap pieces of denim and were taught how to sew from start to finish a keychain that we were allowed to take home. It shed a light on the ways we could repurpose scrap materials and form new products to reduce them from going to landfills. It also made me gain a lot of respect for those in the fashion design industry since it was so challenging to finish the task given. I was thrilled to complete the task.
Now, as for the seminars, we had various seminars on sustainability. However, one of the seminars that caught my attention the most was the seminar on Plant-Based Meat: Sustainable Alternative given by Prof. Dr. Zaibunnisa Abdul Haiyee from UiTM. Her presentation on the topic was very thorough and she tried her best to convince us to try plant-based foods ourselves, which is in no way an easy task to do. Apart from the lecture, she had also given us a little container of vegan pastries for us to try for ourselves. We also had interesting lectures by our Deputy Deans. Dr. Soraya spoke on “What is Zoonotic Malaria and How to Control It”. And, Prof. Dr. Aznan presented on “Family Role in Prevention of Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Elderly”.
Altogether, this was a once in a lifetime experience filled with many momentous moments. Other than expanding our knowledge on sustainability we were also able to expand connections with people who have the same interests.
Everyone from the staff to the students were so generous and caring towards us and they all went to such great lengths with such amazing hospitality to make sure that we were all comfortable. I do hope that more events like this will be available to participate in the future as I would consider coming again. ***
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