Starting with Curiosity, Ending with Fun

"Curious? Read widely. Try new things. I think a lot of what people call intelligence boils down to curiosity,” said Aaron Swartz, an internet activist. This also applies to Nikita (30), one of Wahana Visi Indonesia's social volunteers (relawan sosial/resos) in Ujuna Village, Palu City. The woman who was initially just curious about what her neighbors were doing, is now actively involved in activities with WVI.

Nikita has been a social worker since 2019. The mother of two said that at first, she was just curious about what her neighbor, Mujila, was doing. Mujila is also an old member of WVI. Nikita admitted that she was very curious about the activities that Mujila participated in at that time.

“I got married at a relatively young age and at first I was confused and afraid to take care of my child. Usually, Mujila will share the knowledge she gets with me because she knows that I have difficulties in raising children. Mujila also complied with my request that I can be involved in activities and training and after that, I became a social worker. Finally, I was able to learn directly from Wahana Visi Indonesia and it had an impact not only on my children but on the children in my environment as well,” said Nikita after running the Children's Study Group activity.

During three years as a member of WVI, Nikita gained valuable experience, especially on how to educate and raise children. Seeing that her activities had a good impact, Nikita also received full support from her husband. Nikita is getting more and more engrossed in working for the children.

"Sometimes it's also emotional when it's hard to manage children in activities, they are noisy during activities, there are sudden tears, all kinds of things. But I am happy when I see children happy in activities, who can read, recognize colors and sometimes even compete to answer questions. I am proud because I can be useful,” she said.

Nikita is committed to being a social worker and assisting the children and hopes that she can increase her capacity in facilitating activity materials in the field so that children can understand and be motivated by every material she shares.

Written by: Anita Gintu, PJI Palu Barat Sipado Area Program of Wahana Visi Indonesia