THE STORY BEHIND

​​Have you go to a place where everyone accept you as truly yourself? Have you meet a family where you never been judged but always been cared and supported with sincerity? I am lucky that I've been there. I am always there. It is called GMB Gerakan Mari Berbagi.

Last year, I joined in GMB as one of the Youth Adventure-Youth Leaders Forum 2015 participant. There, I met many wonderful and inspiring person like Bang Azwar Hasan, an once "wong ndeso" from Aceh who have achieved his dream and then give everything to help people around him, or Mas Dede Prabowo, a very commited person who always want to help people in remote areas, even he already has a comfort life in Japan. GMB is full of extraordinary and positive person! I learnt a lot from them, and later I was given an opportunity to learn more in GMB Youth Leadership and Homestay Program 2016 to Holland.

Well, I am not alone. There are Wine Tesa, Pandu, and Edi Fadhil who will go together with me to The Netherlands. I think, they are the true "manusia di atas rata-rata". Wine is a cheerful and very organized person who always spread positive energy into us. Then, Pandu, the youngest, is the most influential young environmentalist in Balikpapan. And who do not know Edi Fadhil? An inspiring person who builds houses for dhuafa in Aceh by crowd-funding. Not to mention 11 other delegates who are also amazing, will go to Australia and Japan respectively. They are my "team", but more than that, they are my family and my role models.

The challenge is, we must pay our expenses in homestay program by ourselves. This self-reliance on funding is the challenge but also an opportunity to learn more. We do fund-raising innitiatives together. We sell snacks, cakes, souvenirs, and many other things. We use our savings. We seek for sponsors in hope that some institutions want to help to fund us. Even, one of us became a Go-Jek driver to fund-raising. I also remember, how I and Windiyani got evicted (digusur) by securities when we sold drinks in campus' car-free day. We work tirelessly.

However, it is more than just how much money we got. The process itself is what we intended to feel and learn. Our proposals got rejected. Our agendas are conflicted each other. My internship was not went smoothly. We fought. We keep distance sometime. But we still care, we support each other. It's what make us tougher, and hopefully, become a good provision when we go abroad or face the life accordingly.

The Australia and Japan homestay delegates will fly just in few days later. The Netherlands delegates will fly around next month. The process itself hasn't ended yet. We are still struggling to make preparations. In the preparation itself, we made mistakes. I made mistakes. But we make corrective actions, and still do the best. This mixed feeling of excitement and worries, I hope will not limit us to learn and do better. It will elevate us to the next level: to become tougher and wiser.

Have a happy adventure, pals!


​Langityanto Tri Gezar
Participant of GMB Homestay Program 2016