A Little Story of A Lot Experience
Hello again with Resty, a doctor who just resigned from a hospital on a beautiful island off the east coast of Sumatra and married a Palembangese. Why did I join the service? One of the answers is because of the support of my two favourite siblings in the previous service in Lombok Island, NTB, Windi and Gogo. So I was one of the 78 national volunteers who participated in the Ekspolarasi Budaya Nusantara #2 in Nagari Traditional Village, Sijunjung, West Sumatra.
The 16-hour road trip from Palembang was rewarded with the natural beauty of Sijunjung and the warm welcome of the villagers. That afternoon, young children were already neatly dressed in their typical clothes while playing musical instruments, mothers and traditional leaders had lined up to greet us, what a heartwarming first impression. While we were there, we stayed in a local Rumah Gadang, a typically Minangkabau house, with elongated rectangular bodies and sharply curved roofs. Some were neutral in colour, like wood, while others were more colourful and patterned. I stayed at Rumah Gadang 11 and lived with my bundo and her family. Of course, I am not alone, there are other volunteers who come from various regions, including Halizah from Medan, Ulima from Ponorogo, Lian from Padang, Windi from Yogyakarta and Nindya from Riau. Bundo is like our own mother there, every day we eat bundo's dishes which are so delicious and appetising. There was no dieting, we could suddenly eat multiple times because of the delicious food and togetherness.
The first day, Monday, 30 January 2025 was fulfilled with a series of opening events, all volunteers wore traditional clothing from their regions preparing to gather in the meeting room of the Sijunjung Regency Regent's office. Some of the highlights of the activities include Tari Piring performances, presentation of PoA (Plan of Action) from each division, literacy seminar on Silokek Geopark which is an area that has valuable landscape geological heritage sites, and closed with Nasi Padang lunch. Not only that, the activity continued with a tour of the Silokek Sijunjung Geopark Information Centre. We were presented with information about the unique geology and culture there. In the afternoon, the most awaited activity finally happened, exploration of the Geopark Ranah Minang Silokek. Going to such a beautiful natural attraction, it really provides a healing effect for the soul from busy daily routine.
The activities of each division were held from Tuesday to Friday, December, 31th 2024 to January, 3rd 2025. I joined the education and culture division. The activities of the education and culture division are very diverse, some of them are related to the children. Their laughter and endless energy werw special spirit in carrying out programmes. On my last day of service, I had chance to join the health division in their social service programme. Wow, I missed meeting the patients.
It was not easy to memorise and get to know these 78 volunteers with great and inspiring backgrounds, but all of them came with a positive purpose. We separated after about a week of being a big family, the Barakarsa family. Thank you for giving me new memories.