Yayasan Pondok Kasih is a non-governmental organisation which provides for those who are less fortunate with education, to encourage them to be independent and achieve a decent living standard within the community. They’ve opened an opportunity for people who are willing to volunteer to help with various programmes for less fortunate people. One of them is the “Mobil Pintar” or the “Smart Car” programme. The Smart Car is a mini bus which mainly provides children books for the less fortunate children in rural areas to read. For this activity, volunteers need to visit designated places that they have been assigned and accompany children ranging from 1st to 6th graders. I decided to do this activity as I want to explore and make a difference to the community, as well as to provide myself an opportunity to create and develop experience and knowledge within the society.
My school mates: Zeann, Wisang, Alan, Darren and I spent three days involved with the Smart Car activity, from 20th – 25th June 2019. On the first day, I went to a rural area around the Kenjeran Beach. The second day, I went to Makam Mataram and on the third day, I went to Makam Rangkah.
After doing this service, I’ve realized that each of these places have their own characteristics in which portray my weaknesses and strengths. During the activity, I’ve realized that my strength throughout the three days is my English proficiency. I was able to nurture and teach some of the children English by slowly reading to them one by one and translating to Indonesian. I also overcame an unexpected challenge, which is when the children asked me about my understanding of Mandarin. Luckily, my Mandarin proficiency was enough to at least understand the questions they asked.
Throughout the three days, I also faced and overcame some of my weaknesses. I faced challenges such as socializing in general, dealing with children, and the language barrier. I was able to socialize more with my friends, the people who are involved in the organization and all the people in the rural areas, although sometimes I couldn’t really comprehend their Javanese proficiency. I also discovered I’m not as fluent with Indonesian as English, which sometimes gave me a hard time explaining to the kids, especially when I didn’t really know where their skills lie. I also realised I was capable of dealing with children, lots of children. I was very satisfied and proud of myself for doing this service to help children, the organization and our community.
Moonly Koespianto
Grade 12 DP
