Slow Sunday: Volunteering a Free-writing Event for The Orphan Foundation

Through the rain and wind, unable to use google maps, losing my sight.. but it was still worth it.

Last sunday was quite special day, because @menulisid held their event for this Ramadhan month. There are 2 things I need to explain here. MenulisID is a non-profit writing community that provides a space for those who are interested in writing so they can publish the article on MenulisID’s official website. MenulisID is also actively holding both online and offline events. I’ve been a volunteer since last year, but first attended their offline event back in January this year.

The second thing, we as Muslims are familiar with something called “ngabuburit”, which is any activity we choose to do while waiting for the time to break the fast. And menulisID’s initiator come up with this event called Ngabubuwrite.

I thought the concept of the event is quite interesting, and I really wanted to help. I’ve been spending more time alone and rarely seeing friends during this Ramadhan, so this activity seems like a breath of fresh air for me. However, the weather that day was so bad. Those who volunteering for this event said their area was getting heavy rain and even with the strong winds. My area was no exception, it was so cloudy and I knew it would rain heavily soon too.

The foundation where this event was held is quite far from my house. Actually it was like a different city, but since I could still get there by motorbike, I just felt so silly calling it “out of town”😂 The event was going to start at 4.30 pm, and the volunteers were supposed to be there at 3.30 to do all the preparations. I left my house at around 3.30 pm and it wasn’t raining yet.

Then after I drove for about 20 minutes, it started pouring heavy rain and strong wind hitting me. This is getting dramatic but I could barely drive anymore at that point because first, it felt like my body and my motorbike were being carried away by the wind. Second, my eye vision was really blur because I didn’t bring my glasses. And third, even if I forced my self to keep driving, I didn’t know which way to go because I couln’t open google maps.

When the wind and rain had subsided a bit, I drove again, towards my house. But I wanted to wait for another 30 minutes to see if the rain can really stopped. Luckly, about 15 or 20 minutes later, the rain actually stop. So I went back to the direction towards the fondation location. It was pretty okay because only drizzling throughout my journey, but I arrived at around 4.20 which meant I didn’t really help the preparation. I felt so bad but the initiator and other volunteers didn’t mind it because we all knew the weather that day. We introduced ourselves to each other since this event recruited different people from the previous one, so they are new friends for me.

The event was opened with a welcoming speech and a prayer by the fondation’s management. Then, Kak Soffy as the inisiator of MenulisID also gave a short welcoming speech and explained about Ngabubuwrite. Basically, we started with free-writing activity. As far as I know, there were about 30 kids mostly around 10-15 years old, and some younger kids too. They were divided into 5 group with 1 volunteer as a chaperone. I didn’t become one of the chaperone because I had to document the event video for MenulisID’s social media and honestly I don’t want to be a chaperone either, because I would feel nervous if the kids were not comfortable talking to me or something😅

All the kids were given a small notebook and pen to write whatever they wanted. Some of them wrote introductions, others wrote about their daily activities, and the younger ones decided to draw because they couldn’t write yet. So a free-drawing it is :D I found that some of these kids were so shy that they barely talked to their chaperone. But some of them were quite talkative.

After they finished writing, each of them given small sticky notes to write about their dreams or what they want to be, and we asked them to stick it on the wall. Its so interesting to read their various dreams. The most iconic one for me is someone who wrote that he wanted to built a “Madura Store” and I’ve never heard of kids having such a dream. The reason why its called that way is not racist at all, but in Indonesia, grocery strores own by people from Madura, they tend to be open for 24 hours. Wheter this kid is joking or not, that’s the most realistic dream for me😂

After that, we had some ice-breaking which was a game and quiz to lighten the mood and then gave some small prizes for those who brave enough to be participant in front of their other friends. After giving donations, and closing with a prayer, it was time to break the fast. We distributed boxed rice and iced tea. We were taking pictures together, some volunteers had a short chat with the kids, and they’re seems to enjoyed our visit.

Then, after praying and breaking our fast, we cleaned the place. Actually, Kak Soffy had arranged a plan where all the volunteers were invited to a café to chat about the event and get to know each other as well. However, I decided to go home because I didn’t want to get caught in the rain again.

However, another plot twist is my phone battery is ran out on the way home, so I followed the direction without looking at google maps. Luckly, the direction turned out pretty easy so I can got home safely. My process to attend MenulisID events is actually always a bit challenging. Previously, on their first anniversary, a day before the event was held, I was actually still in Malang for work. I was already cold because of the rain, and it turned out I still missed the train back to Surabaya. So I took a public transportation to the bus terminal, and waited for a few more hours. I don’t like traveling by bus, because it almost always makes me want to throw up. But that day I forced my self, because I wanted to attend MenulisID’s first anniversary event.

However, it was always worth it. Because in the past, I almost always avoided to socializing in the community. I didn’t trust my self enough to be able to get along with new people. Truth is, I still hate my self sometimes—how I can’t be talkative person. But at least I try to get out of my own bubble, because spending too much time in it—inside my foggy brain, can be dangerous.

That was my weekend experience during this month. Oh about the pictures, sometimes I don’t feel comfortable showing other people’s without permission, so I put stickers everywhere sorry😁 Thankyou for reading my post! hope y’all have a wonderful weekend experience too :)