Sun, sand, and shooting interviews
The BRATs visited Terengganu to dig for the best stories the coast had to offer, and boy, were there stories!
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Terengganu’s calm was slightly shattered when BraTs participants invaded the peaceful seaside town of Kijal in search of the best stories the area could offer.
It was all part of the BraTs young journalist camp, where Malaysia’s best and brightest young, aspiring journalists get to experience real-life multimedia journalism by going on exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime assignments.
Mentored by award-wining r.age journalists, BraTs participants get the opportunity to learn the finer points of interviewing, writing, video shooting and editing skills in the span of four activity-packed days.
BraTs has been running since 1993, and has produced hundreds of BraTs alumni, many of whom have gone on to become journalists and media professionals, but that doesn’t mean the assignments have gotten old.
#Teamsatpal and #TeamClarissa for example, were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the Ma’Daerah Turtle sanctuary, where they had the opportunity to excavate turtle nests in search of injured hatchlings as part of the sanctuary’s conservation efforts.
not all baby turtles make it out of their nest on their own due to physical disabilities, so they need a little helping hand (which the BraTs were more than happy to offer).
The turtle sanctuary was developed by the Department of Fisheries Malaysia, BP and WWF-Malaysia to act as a model for turtle sanctuaries across Malaysia.
In the meantime, #TeamMayLee stayed closer to home at the five-star resorts World Kijal, where the camp was held, to learn more about the hotel’s own turtle conservation efforts.
The resort’s 7.5km stretch of white, sandy beach is a prime spot for turtle egg-laying; so it only made sense for the hotel to protect its most prized guests by building its own turtle hatchery to keep the eggs and hatchlings safe before being released back into the ocean.
The BraTs had the amazing opportunity to do just that – whooping with excitement, the BraTs each chose a turtle hatchling to release into the south China sea, where in about 20 years or so, the female turtles would likely return to lay the next generation of turtle babies.
“My favourite part was seeing the turtles up close,” said Yim soon Kah, 21. “as tourists, you get to see them from afar but not hold them like we did.”
But that’s not all the BraTs did. The teams went further north to Kampung Tengah, a fishing village in Kijal where #Teamsatpal, #TeamClarissa and #TeamMayLee had the opportunity to speak to the women of the village, a fisherman, and the manager of an ikan bilis processing factory respectively.
“I learned how to connect with someone totally different from me, with a different language and background and somehow still find commonalities,” said Fantaghiro Michelle D’silva, 17.
But going on assignments is only one half of the BraTs equation. They still had to take those interviews and turn them into stories and videos which will all be published in the nie and stareducate sections later this month.
“I learned a lot because it was so hands on,” said Faith, 18 “we were expected to