Bakti Desa

In early January, my friends and I went to Desa Cibereum. We went there with angkot after gathering at school. The trip took roughly three hours until we get there because we had traffic jam in the city and the road are circuitous. After we arrived we were instructed to get into the Village Hall. There are opening ceremony from the teachers and the chief of the village. We also had lunch there. We collected the books which would be given to the villagers later on. The students packed their bags and they are sorted into villager's houses. Each houses usually had four students in it. Since I'm a part of the student council in my school, I had to help the teachers sort the books based on their grade such as elementary, junior high, and senior high. It didn't take much time so I can catch up with my friends before they are sorted into the houses. 

My housemates are Rifkhi, Akmal, and Qafka. The house belongs to Mr. Juju and Mrs. Elis.  They are in early elder-hood and had five grown up children, a daughter and four sons. three of their children are already married and work in the city so Mr. Juju and Mrs. Elis lived with their two remaining sons, Yudis and Sandi. Their last son, Yudis had just graduated from senior high while Sandi work as a village servant. Mr. Juju and Mrs. Elis also has a granddaughter from their daughter that lived with them. Her name is Kanaya, she is three years old.

When we arrived, they greeted us and let us into their house. They have an empty bedroom wich we can use to sleep. It's not spacious enough for four of us but we try to be grateful since not every house have bed. After we put our bags into the bedroom, Yudis offered to be the guide when we were taking a walk after a long three ours sitting in angkot.

On the first day we only spent our time to fit into the society of the village, talking, eating and helping their house chores. When the sun began to set, Qafka suddenly felt ill and it got worse as the night came. Mr. Encep, our guardian, decided to take Qafka to the village's Puskesmas but there were no doctors available. So Mr. Encep took Qafka to a clinic few kilometers away from the village by motorcycle. After dinner, Qafka was sent back to home to get some rest.

On the second day, we went to a bridge to take some pictures early in the morning. After that we help the villagers renovate their musholla. The students then had to come to the village hall to attend a farming counselling. We are taught to operate a tractor, fertilize plants, plant the seeds, adn many more. In the afternoon, my class went fishing with the villagers. The fish were going to be cooked for dinner. I eat those fishes together with all of my classmates, Mr. Encep, and also Mr. Juju and his family. It was such a warm and happy night.

On the third day, we also had to help the villagers to do the chores and also distribute the books which had been sorted earlier to schools near the village. We went back to Bandung after lunch and say goodbye to Mr. Juju and his family. We are a little bit sad but we had to leave. It was an amazing experience.