Volunteer’s Story: Learn to Understand by The Voluntary Activity

Maria Nona Julvin, known as Jem (21), is a student of psychology major at Nusa Nipa Indonesia University. She comes from Maumere, a city of Sikka Province in East Nusa Tenggara. She knows that WVI opens the volunteer opportunity to help affected children of the Seroja tropical cyclon disaster and she decided to join the program. Even only involved in a short period, she got a lot of valuable experiences.

This is the first time Jem joins the voluntary program. Concern for the condition of the children is the main reason why Jem willing to serve children in Adonara Island with another 11 volunteers. She aimed to assist the child-friendly space activity in Adonara Island. 

“As a psychology student, I am called to do something for the children. At least I can comfort them and reduce their sadness with psychosocial support activity,” Jem said.

She found some experiences which touch her heart. For example, when she met a child who told a story about the parents who divorced and left the children.

“The kid told the story with a laugh, but the story has moved my heart. Normally, the kid should be sad or cry, but he said it happily,” explained the 6th-semester student.

Jem added that the WVI voluntary activity also gave her reflection on life.

“The point is how we appreciate what we have and how we take care of it all because when we lose the things we have, sometimes we will dissolve in sadness and insincerity. We can be happy today because we have all of them, but we don’t know about the future. We don’t know what things that can be ours,” she concluded.

Jem hopes that Adonara’s children can grow happily, have the spirit of life, and care for others even though they used to experience the loss. 
 

Rewritten based on volunteer testimonial by Putri ianne Barus, Communications Officer Wahana Visi Indonesia