Posted on 22-Oct-2014
Report by Lance Corporal Teh Eng Hong of 12th Kuala Lumpur Company 
September 20th, 2014
SENTUL, KUALA - One fine day, the NCOs stayed back to do a project that would benefit the environment and the school generally. This is in fact our contribution to our beloved Parade ground of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur. The project was given the name Basil Plant Project. At the same time, we decided that our Anchor Room needs some spring cleaning too. Hence, we embarked another project – Spring Cleaning of Anchor Room.
The participants consisting of several Non-Commisioned Officers (NCOs) led by Lance Corporal Ajith Nair queued up in front of the stop press of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur. After being briefed by Lance Corporal Ajith Nair, all of us went and enjoyed our lunch consisting of several pizzas, credits to Sergeant Ong Wil Sern and some of our senior NCOs and Lieutenant Andrew Tan, who bought it for us. We all enjoyed
our food after saying grace. Perhaps we were hungry; we were all walloping the pizza nicely.
Before planting the basil seeds, the team was divided. A few NCOs went and cleaned up the Anchor Room while Sergeant Ong Wil Sern cut open the tin cans where we will be planting the basil plants. Then, Corporal Nicholas Ng Kuan Yao put in some newspapers into the tin cans for certain reasons. Lance Corporal Steve Lay and Lance Corporal Ajith Nair kneaded the soil before planting the basil seeds. Messy? No doubt, but it is for a very good cause. 
The benefits of the basil plants is that it can add a lemony fragrance to the garden as well as the kitchen, meaning it is practically a biological ‘perfume’ in the air. It can also be used in dishes and by putting basil in dishes, you make it last longer without it going stale. Basil seed is also heat sensitive. It must be nurtured indoors for a period of six weeks.
The soil in the pot or for this case, aluminum can must be moist as well as well-drained. The seeds must be placed 10-12 inches apart from each other. Like most plants, they must be well watered. When you see flower heads growing, be sure to trim the flower heads off to ensure that the leaves keep growing. Oh, and for those who intend to use this plant for cooking, be sure to not use harmful pesticides! Another friendly tip is that tomatoes make good neighbours for basil. The leaves have to be picked regularly.
After the kneading of the soil, the soil is distributed evenly to the aluminum cans. Lance Corporal Ajith Nair placed the seeds inside the aluminum cans for it to grow. Hopefully, it will grow. After all was done, the participants of the Basil Plant Project headed upstairs to clean the Anchor Room. While the Basil Plant Project participants did their work, the three busy NCOs, namely Lance Corporals James Ng, Soo Oosheng and Teh Eng Hong, were cleaning up the Anchor Room.
We took the tables and anything in the way out to the corridor first before cleaning up. Then two of us took brooms and swept the floor. As the floor was carpeted, it was quite difficult to sweep the place. Then we wiped the tables to liberate it of any dust. We tidied up the place and folded a few flags that were required to be re-folded. This was done by the NCOs who were prefects in the school as they had more experience in this.
They were joined shortly by the participants of the Basil Plant Project. They cleaned up the Anchor Room and came out with a new layout for the Anchor room. Once this was done, we approached the officers who were having a discussion in the canteen. Once the plan was approved, then we commenced with the new layout. All of us were quite satisfied.
The two projects ended at about 6 in the evening. It was fun working together to complete these two tasks. We were so absorbed in our work that we did not realize time flew by rather quickly that day. All of us were tired but really happy.
Page Created: 22nd October 2014