Friday, July 10, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday to Waterfall Survivors. A little note from me.

Hi everyone,

Waterfall Survivors will be turning 1 year old on 12th July 2009.

I was never an outdoor person before I created Waterfall Survivors. Being a newbie in trekking and hiking, without knowing what jungle trekking are like, without knowing how to even trek properly, it was a real big challenge for me, especially with my size. Many of my personal friends did say I could never make it... hehe...

Waterfall Survivors. How come Waterfall Survivors.. not Waterfall Hunters, not Waterfall Trekkers etc...Thanks to Elliza Hashim for giving the group this beautiful name while I was creating this group and chatting with her via FB chat.

On the first trip that WS organized at Kanching Waterfalls on 19th July 2008, Huda Bahari wrote at 11:19am on July 16th, 2008
"Hi Joe, m interested to join u this Saturday n mayb some of my frens will join also. Looking forward to me u there..". I was so so happy. Yes.. first trip, 1 person from this FB group is joining. It's a good start. Huda brought along 4 friends. And this group of new friends really made my day. These group of ppl... wow... very experience trekker... I was like oh gosh... this organizer can't even trek properly. But Huda and Gang did not give up on me and taught me a lot along the way.
After a few waterfalls, I contacted Jan Stuivenberg, my mentor. And he guided me so much and given so much of advice to me till today. Sifu, I couldn't have done it without your inspirations and support.

The 'newbie' me continued organizing trips. Along the way meeting a lot of experience people that taught me a lot. Thanks to all of you.
Today, with 82 past events organized for the past year, I have explored more than 40 over waterfalls and WS has grew to more than 2700 over members registered on FB and more than 700 over that participated in our events. A lot of happy moments has been marked in my memories. My sincere thank you to all of you for all these beautiful memories.

With our 15 committees that is so passionate, they really helped me a lot by sacrificing their nites with family and friends to attend our weekly meetings after work. Going through ups and downs with me, trying hard to take my temper, being so patient with the long winded me.etc.. Thank you. I couldn't have done it without you guys. And I believe they deserve it for enjoying most trips at a subsidized rate. It's for all the effort that they have put in to make each event a successful one.

Save Our Waterfalls Campaigns which have been successfully carried out... thank you to all the volunteers,being not selfish, not minding the dirty rubbish, bacterias and a lot of hard work. You guys have done a GREAT JOB.*SALUTE*
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors for all the supports given for our Save Our Waterfalls Campaign. KEEN, World of Sports, Lafuma, Pansing, Mahumas, Bacfree, Tourism Selangor, Tourism Action Council Selangor, Tourism Malaysia, MATTA and other participating bodies.

Members come and go. Some may not like our activites or charges, some started their own group and etc. And I believe there's a lot of negative comments from some members, from other groups on many many things, I will take all this as constructive comments and complains. Without comments and complains, WS will not grow to be better. Thank you for your past supports.

Last but not least, my heartfelt thank you for your support. Without you as a member of Waterfall Survivors, there will not be the count of 2700 today. And my sincere apology if there has been anything that I have not done right or not meet your standard/ requirement for the past year.
To those that has not been to our activities, don't be shy.(We dun bite.. heheheh...) Come and join us and explore the beautiful Waterfalls of Malaysia.
Let's explore more waterfalls, known, unknown. And Let's Save Our Waterfalls and bring our SOW campaign throughout Malaysia.

With warmest love and regards,
Joe Yap Wei Lea
Founder and President