Giving Thanks
The end of the semester exams are over, the holidays are here. For Ayudia, vacation is a day to be excessively lazy because it pays for the energy that has been used during studying and tests, especially since this is a very difficult semester for her. However, this holiday was like hell for him.
HELL YES.
The contents of his head continued to be noisy like the sound of a klaxon that didn't stop. Not only that, Ayudia is often absent from lunch and dinner. He locked himself while staring at the ceiling of his room. His mother knows because he doesn't lock his room, but... lately he's been locking his room. He went out only for breakfast.
"Ayu... Ayu... eat more son... Mom has cooked your favorite fish..."
"You haven't had breakfast for 2 days... and you're only in your room, what are you doing? Please unlock it, baby…”
Hearing his mother speak softly, he opened the door to his room. His mother was sad to see that her only son was pale and had a blank look. Previously, Ayu came out with swollen eyes, not knowing what she was crying about.
"Let's eat..."
Ayudia obeyed her mother's orders and walked towards the dining room. His favorite side dish made by his mother was so fragrant that it smelled like perfume. It's been a long time for him not to eat his favorite dish, maybe the last time was 2 years ago. Ayudia ate heartily so that her mother wouldn't be sad, she also increased the portion, while cooking another side dish, Ayudia's mother asked why she had locked herself up lately, was she the one who made Ayu feel like that, was it a friendship problem, was she anxious because the test results would come out or something else.
"No, not among all that", said Ayudia.
"Then, if not, what is the reason? don't keep it to yourself, let's share it with each other", replied Ayudia's mother.
Ayudia was just silent. He was at a loss to explain how. He is the only one who knows how he feels. Her mother looked at Ayudia in surprise.
What if Ayudia volunteered with Altha, huh? It's crowded, so go to the village with a nice view, maybe Ayudia's mood will come back again. Once you get experience", said Devi.
Devi is a close friend of Ayudia's mother, they have been friends since high school until now, maybe 30 years. Astuti, Ayudia's mother told Devi about her puppet only child and Devi encouraged Ayudia to volunteer. Devi has a volunteer community that is very popular among young people and has been around for a long time. She founded it with her husband when they got married with the aim of inviting people to help with education and other things in villages that are far from the city.
"What's wrong with Ayudia? he didn't participate in the selection", replied Astuti.
"Gapapa, maybe by following this mood he will come back again", said Devi
"Okay fine Dev, thank you for helping, I will persuade Ayudia", replied Astuti.
"Oh yes tut, he is leaving on Monday next week, so please confirm directly if Ayudia agrees and the activities last a week in Teja village", said Devi.
"Okay dev, I'll tell you right away", replied Astuti.
Astuti ended Devi's call and then went to Ayudia's room. This time, Ayudia did not lock her bedroom door and Astuti looked at her son reading a book by a writer named Henry Manampiring.
"Son, do you want to go to Teja village as a volunteer? Aunt Devi offered this, she will leave on Monday next week. You go with Aunt Devi's son Altha, it's only for a week", Astuti invited.
"But Ayu didn't participate in the selection. Come cook for Ayu?", Ayu answered
"Tante Devi said it's okay, she suddenly thought of you because the scenery of the village is beautiful and you must like it. So, are you coming? Let mother confirm to Aunt Devi"
"Hm..."
"Hm.. Hm.. Do you want to? After all, you have 2 months off"
"Hm... with sister Altha, right? Sis Dira, don't you come?"
"Yes, just Altha"
"Hm... it's okay... it's a week too, right?"
"Yes, just a week Ayudia dear. Okay, mom call Aunt Devi first"
"It looks like it's fun too, especially in Teja village", said Ayudia
Kak Altha as the chief coordinator disciplined them and absented the members. The bus will leave at 8 o'clock and the trip will take 3 hours to the center of Teja village, Teja village is an island where you will continue the trip by boat with a travel time of 3 hours.
6 hours of travel makes them tired, now it's time for lunch. After that, they will go to the house that has been rented for their residence. They rent 2 houses, 1 house for women and 1 for men, even though the rented house is nearby. Not only that, they visited the village head to give the news that they had arrived. Later, Ayudia met one of the volunteers who came along, her name was Dea. Unexpectedly, Dea is still young, she is 17 years old, she just graduated high school and joined because she was curious about what it would be like to participate in activities like this. Hearing Dea's reason, he was amazed because at a relatively young age, he intended to experience this activity.
The next day,
Altha, Ayudia, Dea and 3 others were given the task of teaching English in a primary school class, because there were no English lessons in the village yet. The class was opened by Altha, she taught the younger siblings a lot with songs from the basics of how to pronounce the English alphabet. Then another friend gave basic vocabulary that is often used on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Ayudia invited them to play with English vocabulary. Altha saw Ayudia who had been talking a lot, Altha saw her like a young teacher who hadn't seen her students for a long time. Not just playing games while studying, Ayudia prepared snacks for the students who could answer the questions.
In the afternoon, they play with the village children in the field. They play hide and seek, jump rope and tug of war. Ayudia and other volunteer friends also the village children are very enthusiastic to play, they don't want to lose. In addition, there are also friends who volunteer to play badminton with other village children and some also play football.
The day continued with the same activities until the fourth day, they visited the orphanage in the village. Ayudia did not expect that there was an orphanage there. They teach the children English and read the story of the Prophet to them. As usual, the volunteer friends always sneak a game after studying and those who win the most will get a prize. Not only the winner, other orphanage children were also given books, food and clothes. After the teaching and learning activities are finished, it's time for the volunteers to play with them, some play football, some color and some play hide and seek. Meanwhile, Ayudia sat in a wooden hut on the edge of the field watching the orphanage children and volunteers playing football and Altha who was photographing their activities saw Ayudia and approached her, then asked why she had previously locked herself in her room and did not say anything to her mother .
Ah that's it... it looks like mom told Aunt Devi"
"Yes... And it was my sister who gave the suggestion to invite you to join this activity... so have you gotten better?"
"If you ask if it has improved or not, maybe half of it is because it is still in your mind"
"Sorry, if I talk like this, do you still have problems with your family?"
"No, sister", answered Ayudia with a smile and she continued,
"I only heard a conversation that made me think that no-no, I heard my aunt attended her friend's wedding and it turned out that her friend married my father, while she never met me, did she not remember or how?", said Ayudia, this time she spoke while crying.
It is difficult to talk about family. Altha, who couldn't bear to see her crying, hugged Ayudia. Altha didn't know how to respond, she never felt like Ayudia, she could only hug Ayudia in the hope that Ayudia would calm down. Although I know that such things are not easy to express especially to her mother, Ayudia seems to have harbored those feelings for a long time and there may be something else that made her cry like that.
"But after seeing them I feel relieved because I still have my mother and family. Even so, it's nice to see them smile and laugh together, they're like brothers to each other", said Ayudia while smiling at the children of the orphanage playing soccer right in front of her.
—
1 day before their return, they visited the waterfall in the village and some even swam.
The next day, they said goodbye to the villagers and children, the children they taught waited until they really left
5 months since joining the volunteer activity, Ayudia gives alms to the orphanage every 2 weeks. Whenever he feels that the things he is doing are bad and there is no happiness whatsoever, he always remembers that the key to everything is gratitude.
Short story by Rara Julia