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Volunteering For Starkey Hearing Foundation

Last weekend, I was volunteering in a program of Starkey Hearing Foundation and PT. Alat Bantu Dengar Indonesia. The program was to share 1000 hearing-aids to citizens of Yogyakarta. It was such an honor to get a chance like that. It was held in DPRD of Yogyakarta on 21-22 March 2015. I met my friends on plurk, Kaicha and The Asri. It was fun how I met them and worked together actually. Beside that, I got new friends there. Elsa, Hanan, Hilda, Gustin, Mela, Micky, Mando, and Ayu were the translators I worked with.

On Saturday morning, the team was getting ready to get started. Bill Austin and Tani Austin came to the spot where the event was held. Suddenly, Teh Asri asked me to be the MC for the opening ritual. I was like.... me? Really? You kid me right? And she answered "no" because after analyzing my CV, it's written there that I've been done some jobs as MC. I should've not mentioned that on my CV. LOL. But okay, I took the challenge to be a bilingual MC right at that time. And, it went good. Pretty good cause I didn't mess up at all.

Then the real work came. As an interpreter, I had to help a fitter - the call for someone who's fitting the hearing-aids to the patient - interpreting Bahasa Indonesia to English and English to Bahasa Indonesia. That could probably the very first time I did my job as a professional interpreter. I know they didn't pay me at all as a volunteer but this program recruited pros, so I can say it's a professional thing.

Working as volunteer in a program of hearing-aids company was amazing. I never did it before. Sure that I learned so many things. Interacted with so many different people. I worked with Mr. Douglas on the first day and Ms. Chalese on the last day of the program. Both of them are awesome. First of all, I can't stand for more than 2 hours without sitting for a moment at all. But they stood like nothing will cramp their feet. OMG it was embarrassing for me. I'm much younger than them but I'm like lack of energy or what. Second, they helped people with all their heart and it's not fake. They're happy and willing to help others. It might be inspired by Bill and Tani Austin, the founder of Starkey who I was working with too even though for 10-15 minutes. They were... great and amazing. So inspiring! This program is inspiring by the way.

The most important thing that I've learned was how lucky I am to have good hearing on both of my ears. I don't want to repeat my habit of listening too much music through headset. Next month I'll buy new headphone to save my future hearing health. So many people lost their hearing because of virus, accident, and others. They're deaf and many of them don't have speech ability. But I can do those things, hear and speak. Nothing more blessing than that. I just... feel so blessed for what Allah gives me.

And after being volunteer on that program, I really want to learn sign language. It seems interesting to talk with people using that language. It's your gesture that speak, not your mouth. I will, someday. And I hope after this I will get another chance that can be as interesting as this program or even more challenging. I'm sure those chances will come again. Amen!

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