June 22 - The Last Days

In the morning, all participants unloaded their suitcase from cabin because this day would be the last day in Global Youth Village for us. Before we would leave Global Youth Village, we had our last session. Our session was about signing the letters as the proof that we received a mini-grant from Legacy International to run our follow-on project.

After the session ended, we got in to the bus. We left for Washington D.C. at about 10 A.M. We would stay in a hotel in Washington D.C. that night before we would fly to Indonesia the next day. The trip from Global Youth Village which is located in Virginia to Washington D.C. was about 4.5 hours. We had our lunch in the bus.

After we arrived in hotel, we had our dinner in restaurant then we went to Potomac River for a cruise using a ship. Along the 1.5 hours cruise, we could see Capitol Hill, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Monument. We were so lucky because we had a cruise at the time of sunset. It was so cool looking for the sunset so we took some pictures. The cruise was great and we felt happy.

June 19 - The Jeopardy Game and Dream Catcher

We started this day by a meeting in Pace. All the participants (both of Indonesian participants and American participants) had a session to talk more about culture, especially Indonesian culture. Why? Because in the next some days, the American participants would go to Indonesia and they must be prepared before. 

This morning session was so interesting. We were divided into 3 groups to play jeopardy game. That game was under the cultural theme. We discussed about cultural aspect of America and Indonesia, and interestingly we also discussed about slang. We (Indonesian participants) knew new slang words, like wicked; it does not phase me, and others. The American participants learned new Indonesian slang words, like kepo. That was really funny.

In the afternoon, we spent our time to learn making a dream catcher. Do you know dream catcher? The Indian, the Native American, believes that they will get a nice dream if they put the dream catcher above their bed when they are sleeping. Dream catcher looks like a spider web with a round shape.

After making dream catcher, we had Camp Fire that day. It started at about 8 P.M. It was so amazing. We enjoyed that night so much - singing songs, sharing our own stories, having marshmallow, and the most interesting one revealing our secret buddy.

June 18 - Project Discussion

Our morning session this day was a preparation for American participants before they go to Indonesia. We had an informal sharing session to talk about anything they wanted to know about Indonesia. This sharing session took about an hour. After that, Indonesian participants had a discussion about follow-on project. Each of us had already had idea of what the project would be, so that day we came to discuss the budget. Our discussion was led by Suzanne. She gave us detail explanation about budget and what can we do if we need to fundraise. This session took longer time as we needed to brainstorm all the things and materials needed in our project.

In the evening, we had great time. We played funny games together. One of those games was hula-hoop. That cheers us up. :)

After the evening activity ended, we had time to phone our parents. We had been waiting for this moment as we had been missing our parents. The participants could choose whether they would contact their parents using phone or internet (e-mail or social media).

June 17 - First Day @ Global Youth Village

That day, we had 2 sessions at the afternoon. These sessions were under the different topic and all the participants were free to choose which session they wanted to join with. The first session was talking about environment. It was great as we were invited by Marci, the facilitator for environmental session to look for leaves and bugs in an open area which looks like mini forest. The second one was leadership session which was led by Suzanne. Instead of doing outdoor activities, we did our activities indoor. We did games and activities of looking for our leadership characteristic.

In the evening, we had Folktale Night. We were all divided into groups and given a folktale text. Then, what we needed to do was performing it in the stage (like a role play). Each of us was given a costume. All of us were looked so funny wearing the costume. This evening was very nice as we all performed the folktale well.

June 14 - Rescue Mission and Roanoke Community Garden

That day we did community service at Rescue Mission. That is a place where homeless people can stay and get their meals for free. Rescue Mission is also a place for people who need special treatments or rehabilitation to get rid of drugs and alcohols. Rescue Mission accommodates man, woman and children. It has two buildings which will separate man and woman. At the moment (June 2013), there are more than 900 people who stay there. Our community service was to help the staffs to serve the meal for people.

Rescue Mission

In the same day, we went to Roanoke Community Garden Association. It is an NGO (non-governmental-organization) which was founded by a man named Mark, and his wife. They got an idea of using a free space of land to plant fruits and vegetables so they do not need to buy when they want to consume it. This idea came as the market which sells fruits and vegetables is relatively far from their home and it will cost much to get to the market. At the first, they invited people to support their idea and make it real. Few people were interested to join and finally Roanoke Community Garden Association born. Up to now (June 2013), there are 300 people who join with Mark to plant fruit and vegetables. This organization now has a total of 5 gardens in the city of Roanoke. Mark said that he hopes one day when this organization becomes bigger, the fruit and vegetables can be distributed to the market.