Whoa it’s the second month of 2017 already!
I should have uploaded three post this year :(
Well nevermind hopefully I can share more stuffs this month!
Well… now… what should I tell?
If you are following my instagram (if you have not, look it up and follow @ichalisme), you should have already know that I just went to Biduk-Biduk sub-district east of Berau district, Kalimantan Timur. There, I visited Kaniungan Besar Island and Labuan Cermin. Those places are beautiful, I’m feeling very grateful for this vacation.
But this post is not about the beauty of those spots or how to reach there.
(You can ask me privately if that’s what you want to know, I will share you my pictures while I was there lol)
This post will be about me, going to rural area, with strangers, to teach kids at the local elementary school.
The reason I went there was because I got accepted as volunteer for 1000 Guru Samarinda. Previosuly it was my friend Tiara who told me about this event and said that we should apply for it (so it was not my plan at all, but thanks Tir for inviting me <3). We were interviewed by the committee and we were both accepted! yeay!
The day finally came. We travelled 6 hours by illegal taxi from Balikpapan to Sangatta with two other volunteers that we just knew, Vari and Dwi, to meet other volunteers there. 6 hours was very fast, there was hole at many spots of the road, it was late night and raining! The driver seems didn’t care with what will happened to his car. Eventhough I was worried, I just slept and prayed that we will arrive on time and alive.
We arrived at Sangatta at around 4 AM and meet the others. At 9 AM we left Sangatta and the adventure started! I was placed inside car with six new people that I never know before. Going to rural areas is not new for me. I’ve travelled to places that need hours to reach, but this one was different because the road was not asphalt, instead it was mud. And remember with whom I went there? To sum it up, I had to travel for hours, enduring bad road condition, with those strangers *cry*
I was exaggerating. Turn out it was a very exciting trip! During our trip we greeted each other, talked, laughed, sang, even dance lol (just our upper body, we were inside a car) and of course photos and videos. I’m so glad to meet them. In fact, I was very grateful that I was together with them from the start until the end of my journey.
We arrived at our resting house late at night. In the morning after had enough sleep and prepared ourself, we drive another 2 hours to reach the elementary school where we going to teach. I said to myself, “OMG i'm really going to teach those children!!!”. We started by a ceremony (upacara) in the open field and introduced ourself. Then we moved to classes and started teaching. I was with two other volunteer, Epiphanie and Dwi, teaching Flora and Fauna of Indonesia. We had a discussion the night before to plan the teaching but the reality was not going as planned lol. We taught them by showing the map of Indonesia and then one by one went to front of the class, picked one sticker of animals, and sticked it to the right habitat on the map (for example: Komodo sticker to Nusa Tenggara Timur). We also taught them their characteristics such as what they eat, how the reproduce, and whether the animal is on extinction.
After finished with the main subject, It’s time for Pohon Impian (Dream Tree)! We wrote our name and what we wanted to be in the future (cita-cita) on paper leaves and sticked it to the Pohon Impian. Not only the kids, but also us volunteers. I was struggling with what I wanted to be but then I put teacher since I remembered I wanted to be one when I was in Junior High School. Most kids wanted to be in the military, be a police, and one kid even wrote astronaut, amazing. Some didn’t know what to write so I told some jobs to them. One kid convinced to be a chef after I explained what a chef can do, I felt happy that she was inspired.
Last lesson inside the class was Heart to Heart session! We separated the kids to three groups and then we had a conversation. I had three kids, Arjuna, Silviana and Delon. I started our talk by a health promotion about how to have healthy teeth. Then we talked about their daily life. Delon live near the school but Arjuna and Silviana come to school everyday walking for about 30 minutes from their house. One of them has no parents anymore, so he live with his brothers and sisters. All of them have many brothers and sisters. I was confused because based on their story, they probably have step parents, that’s why they have many brothers and sisters (but again i’m not sure). I learned some dayak words (I forget it now but I still remember that eating in dayak is kuman :D). I saw their life is completely different from mine. But I could see from our short talk that eventhough they have such a life, they are strong kids. They didn’t show that they felt ungrateful for their life. They just live it. I think I should be more grateful for what I have :” After the session finished, I gave each of them a new schoolbag from our sponsor and a pencil case from me. It’s not much but I just want to give them something as memento and hope it will be useful for them :)
After the indoor teaching, it’s time to play outside!!! Thank God the wheather was good. We played together, volunteers and all kids. I even played running and catching those kids but really they are fast and agile (lincah). After outdoor game, it’s time to say goodbye. We took a group photos and said thankyou to all of them, the kids, the teacher, the whole school. In the end all the kids were happy, we were happy as well.
I feel very grateful that I can join this event. This is a completely new things for me. I never go on a trip with strangers before. In fact, I always feel awkward whenever I meet someone new. Then I had to teach children??!! I have no idea what to do at first. Teaching is not the thing I ever do… and the one i had to teach was children!! And not only teach but also have a heart to heart session with these stranger kids!! I am an awkward guy when meeting new people, have to teach which I never do before, and children??!! How do i suppose to do all of that at once *cry again* Well…. I just thought that I want to have fun, enjoy the time, try something new, and other happy thoughts. I survived until the very end, thank God!
When we left to Balikpapan, I had that feeling that everybody feel after saying goodbye. I felt sad. I thought about how happy I was with them, all the memories, and I had to come back to reality. We come from different cities (Samarinda, Balikpapan, Bontang, Palangkaraya, Palu and even Bandung) and be together for 3 nights and now we must part ways. Nothing we can do, I just said that I am very grateful to meet all of those (previously) strangers and hopefully someday we will cross path again somewehere.
Cheers to all volunteers and hardworking committees of 1000 Guru Samarinda Travelling and Teaching 9 Biduk – Biduk !
Miss you already XOXO
