The opportunity is joining the Habitat for Humanity service, an NGO from the USA that cares for the people in our community and around the world to build or improve a place they can call home. They’re back again in Indonesia and one of the services are held in Surabaya in Kesambenkulon Village and volunteers could help paint the houses. I became interested in applying as a volunteer after my friend asked me to join and participate together with her. I figured that this would be an amazing opportunity for me to give a positive impact to the world and a great learning lesson for me to be more caring towards those in need .

During the day of the activity that was held on 28 October 2022, I was placed in group 3 to help paint one of the villagers houses that was being renovated back. I helped paint the outside of the house and the inside along with 3 other people. During the painting session, I got to know more about the backstory of how the house was built before it was this nice and comfortable home. As it turns out, Habitat for Humanity helped to build this family of five, their current home because their previous one was rundown and was not appropriate for that many people to be living in. This gave me a big realization that we need more people like the people working in or volunteering in the Habitat for Humanity in this world to help families like them live more comfortably and happily. Therefore, I was really happy that I decided to join this service activity because it made me feel glad that I was able to contribute my effort in helping them. Beside getting to know about the people living there, I was also able to get to know my peers whom I was working with in this activity. The two other people in my group were from another school and I was able to socialize and get to know them too and became friends. So not only was this activity rewarding in a sense that I was able to give a positive contribution to society, but I was also able to make friends along the way. By the end of the activity, the four of us had lunch together that was made by the owner of the house. However, the process of painting the house wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were times where I would get tired from painting the walls, things get messy because the paint would get all over my shoes or clothes, and coincidentally the weather that day was really hot. But despite all the hurdles, I was able to overcome it well with the help of my friends and the people around me. And at the end of the day, I was fortunate enough to earn the award of ‘volunteer of the day’ but I believe that it was because of the help and support from my friends and teacher that I was able to earn that opportunity.

At the end of this activity, I learned about being more conscious about the social issues that are happening in not only our community, but also the world. Furthermore, since this programme was also held in honour of Sumpah Pemuda, I learned that as a youth and our nation’s next generation, it’s the perfect time for us to bring about our youthful spirit and use it to give a positive impact to the world with our voice and effort to help those in need and less fortunate than us. We can do that one step at a time, starting from helping our community or the people around you like what is being displayed by the Habitat for Humanity organisation, before expanding your help to other people.   Thus, I’m really happy that I was able to join Habitat for Humanity because I saw this activity as my first step towards helping to change the world for the better. The activity in itself is also really good and inspiring because it inspired me to be a better person whilst also teaching me about other practical skills such as building my team-work skill. This organization is all about having a strong bond with others to create an inspiring community, and I think it reflects well on the people in this organization who have helped and demonstrated how to work and cooperate well with others. Therefore, this activity has helped me to improve my team-work skill which I believe would be very useful for me to use in the future especially during group projects in high school, university and my future career.

Najwa Heraspatty Grade 12DP