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“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” -Mark Twain

Kindness is something that we can do anywhere, anytime. And in the beginning of new semester, Social Activist of EDSA shared some kindness and love through a charity event held in a retirement home named Panti Wredha Rindang Asih II, Semarang, on Saturday, August 20th 2016.

When we arrived at the retirement home around 9 AM, the elderly lived there were already waiting for us. Afterwards, Nikolaus Natal or Bobi from SA led the event as the host. Firstly, he greeted the elderly and then introduced us. After some greeting speeches from Tia  as the project leader, we started to share some happiness through singing and sharing stories.

First off, we asked the elderly if there’s someone who wants to sing a song. These elderly turned out to love singing-and unexpectedly, some of them have beautiful voices too. We sang various songs, from religious to Javanese songs. Not only singing, one of them loves dancing too, even did it while we were singing.

It’s not a secret that the elderly love to talk and share their stories, and that’s what we did after we’ve done with singing: get to know each of them  by listening to their stories. They had a lot of interesting stories to share with each of us, mostly about their childhood and family. Through their stories, sure we’ve learned a lot.

We asked them about how do they feel about our visit there. They all said that it was nice to have someone visiting them, accompanying them. “All I do here is just daydreaming everyday,” said one of the elderly who lived there. “We rarely get visited, so I’m happy that you all come here and entertain us.”

With a hello, comes a goodbye. Around 11 AM, it was time for us to say goodbye to all the elderly. But before we leave, we managed to give them some daily needs such as rice and cooking oil, and of course we had a photo session together.

In the end, it was such a great pleasure to get to know them. They were such lovely people, and hopefully we can get back there again one day.

SA had showed us a good example of being kind to people. So, what kindness had you done today?

You gave us new color. You taught us new stuff. You inspired us. We are thankful for your efforts in this semester.

The little farewell party held in Gedung Serba Guna FIB was attended by teachers and students from English Department. Those who came to this event got the chance to know Mr. Fabio Coelho a little bit closer as he told us few things about his personal life regarding education.

It is enlightening to listen the story from a man who has traveled across the world to teach, from kindergarten to university students. He had many incredible stories to share but time is the limitation. One thing we learn from him is that students in every corner of this earth have the same capability regardless the color of their skin and their culture. We are meant for something big, that was what he asserted.

We hope you have a bright future yourself, Mr. Coelho. Something big does not only come for these youngsters but also for people who have inspired a lot. We bid you adieu.

Warm regards,

Students of English Department Diponegoro University

EDSA, as one of many organizations in Faculty of Humanity Diponegoro University, understand that we have goals to achieve and those goals are reviewed in the mid of our term to make sure that we have done them accordingly.
Continue reading “EDSA’s Mid Year Audit”

Ramadan does not feel right when you do not share something you have with other people. We do not get to ask for Allah’s grace without having done something meaningful to people around us. It is what we believe here in EDSA, that we should not let us enjoy Ramadan by ourselves.
SA, or known as Social Activist, is EDSA division which is responsible for Sahur On The Road. They managed to take care of everything we need as participant so we only had to follow their instructions and, bam, everybody is happy. May their effort be paid back in greater things.
It is a cheerful event even though we had to wake up around 1 o’clock in the morning to meet in rendezvous. Then each of us get a box of food to share. There were about 40 people who participated in this event and we started our journey from Simpang Lima Semarang.
It was a little bit emotional, giving people something that is useful to them. We wish, whatever they believe in, the virtue of Ramadan is always upon us because we know that this month is not just about ourselves.

EDSA

EXIST!

fdl