Titian was happy to assist Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) in bringing in another batch of volunteers, the second group of the year.

About 20 students and 4 Lecturers from The College of North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) were assigned to do volunteer work at a vocational school in Bayat, Klaten. Around 150 students of SMKN 1 Ngawen from Grade 10 to Grade 12 participated in the volunteer sessions from December 17th to 21st. They were enrolled to learn about five topics: 1. Health and Nutrition 2. Entrepreneurship 3. Personal Development 4. Personal Safety and Security 5. Sustainability

On Health and Nutrition for instance, students got to learn about hygiene, even simple things like proper handwashing and dental care. On Personal Safety and Security, students got to learn how to create a secure password for their social media account and how to operate a fire extinguisher in the case of fire. In return for their efforts, the volunteers got to learn Javanese traditional music using the gamelan, and the Javanese language.

What was special about this particular volunteer trip was that it coincided with Qatar’s National Day on December 18th. Being far from home didn’t deter the volunteers from celebrating. ROTA organizers brought a lot of goodies: shawls, pins, bracelets and flags decorating the school meeting hall and the students too. ROTA Volunteers and students took turns to sing their respective national anthems, followed by a brief speech from the school’s Principal and a little bit of Qatari dancing to seal off the celebration.

In between activities at SMKN 1 Ngawen, the volunteers also did community activities with the Women Farmers’ Group of Jarum Village, which included making compost from organic waste, planting various kinds of fruits, such as longan, rambutan and jackfruit, and distributing garbage bins to the surrounding neighborhood. Volunteers also dropped by at CLC Titian to do flower pot painting with the children. (DWA)