By Honorary Reporter Hyacinta Louisa from Indonesia
Photos = Hyacinta Louisa

I had a memorable experience from Aug. 1-10, 2017, volunteering with Korean university students in Bogor, a city in the province of West Java in Indonesia.

The volunteers were divided into seven groups. Our group had six Korean students, a Korean manager and two Indonesian students including myself. One of our main tasks was teaching at an elementary school in the morning, while another was helping build a health care center and an outdoor badminton court for people in our assigned village.

We taught various subjects at the school like sanitary practices, art, science and English. The Korean students prepared exciting materials for the class and the students followed them well. I was an interpreter in most classes and found the interactions between the students and my Korean friends fascinating. In 2017, the song "Baby Shark" was also popular so we danced to it with the students almost every day. Looking at the cheerful faces of the students always brightened the mood and gave us strength. 

After lunch came the hardest part of our daily schedule. We had to help build a health care center and an outdoor badminton court for people in the village, with my group in charge of the former task. The weather in Indonesia is scorching hot, especially in August, and hardly made things easy for us. Yet working together in an extreme situation made us bond with each other and develop strong friendships.

Evenings were usually spent going over what happened during the day and making plans for the next day. We also practiced for the closing day performance. My fondest memory was "Manito," or a game similar to "Secret Santa." We each received a name and had to be the Secret Santa for that person. We had missions every day like massaging a friend's shoulder or giving him or her a bottle of water. Before the final day, we had to guess who our Secret Santa was. The event got everyone to be kind to each other to maintain their cover.  

The meals served during the activities mostly comprised Indonesian food, something that I liked introducing to my Korean friends. They especially liked sate ayam, or chicken skewers with peanut sauce, and various seafood dishes. On the last day, we ate Korean food.

This experience was one of the best in my life. I fondly remember teaching the students, building the health care center and performing in front of the villagers. My dear Korean friends made the experience even better.  

My team leader who was also my roommate hailed from Busan. She let me stay with her when I visited her city for vacation in summer 2018, and our friendship continues to this day. I also saw other friends from this volunteering experience in Korea in 2018 and 2019.

Spending ten days together and enduring hardship while volunteering in hot and damp weather made us closer. I hope that the COVID-19 pandemic goes away sooner than later so that I can see my Korean friends again, either in Korea or Indonesia.

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.