Sustainable Campus Life: A Reflective Journey of the SHARELLA Project

Name: Nur Auni Fathiyah binti Khairul Anwar

Matric. No: 2515656

According to the Pusat Kesihatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM, hot weather puts physical stress on the human body. Its effects on health can range from mild to fatal, for example, due to heat stroke. Therefore, ways to reduce the health effects of extreme hot weather include, as much as possible, staying under a roof when going to any destination or staying indoors.

Article from UKM

However, due to the lack of covered areas in Mahallah Zaid Harithah, International Islamic University Malaysia, students' health can be affected by facing unpredictable weather such as extreme heat or heavy rain. As a quick initiative, SHARELLA (shared umbrella) has become a quick solution in helping to facilitate student travel and raise awareness to be prepared for weather changes among students. This project only focused on 4 Mahallah blocks as an initial trial, with 3 umbrellas provided in each block and free use and accessibility for all students. Indirectly, this project supports SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. This is because the project is based on a waqaf (charitable endowment) system that can reflect a circular economy, which is to reduce waste and promote sustainability. Among the main objectives are to improve the welfare of students and campus facilities and to promote a culture of sharing and community spirit.

Mahallah B5

To form a legitimate and credible project, the SHARELLA project committee members have carried out the formal approval process and obtained the official COP from Mahallah Office (stamp of approval) as permission to implement it. After a few days, with a budget of less than RM100, the preparation of the necessary items was continued, and we proceeded to distribute the posters through the selected block WhatsApp groups and briefly explained the project. According to the observations, this project is able to improve the well-being and comfort of students, while SHARELLA provides important shelter and reduces physical discomfort from unpredictable weather, which is indirectly in line with SDG 3 when it promotes a culture of self-care and a healthy living environment within the mahallah. In addition, it also promotes sustainable consumption as it replaces individual ownership with a waqf system to reduce waste and automatically follows the alignment of SDG 12 to teach responsible resource management through sharing instead of buying.

After a few weeks of project implementation, we received encouraging feedback when 80% of users gave a positive acceptance to this project. This proves that it is a practical and low-cost initiative that is suitable to be continued in other blocks in Mahallah. However, there are challenges that exist, like monsoon winds damaged the umbrella frames, and the adhesive hooks proved insufficient for long-term support. Most importantly, the issue of reduction and loss of umbrellas in Male Mahallah is due to inconsistent responsibility. Therefore, improvements such as installing more durable shelves and implementing a Telegram-based feedback system are proposed to improve sustainability and monitoring efficiency.

Sustainable Development Goals

Overall, this project has achieved its goal as it can be a quick initiative to address the issue of lack of covered walkways and facilitate student travel. SHARELLA is a strong starting point towards a more sustainable campus environment at IIUM Pagoh and is in line with SDG 3, SDG 11, and SDG 12.

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