Volunteer Hours at Rosie's Place, Boston

Hi my name is Hijrah Saputra, from Aceh, Indonesia. I work as graphic designer at Piyoh Design and creative leader at The Leader that create creative program for children and youth in Aceh, Indonesia. I am a participant of the Professional Fellows Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by American Councils for International Education.

The Professional Fellows Program brings emerging leaders in the fields of legislative process and governance; civic engagement; NGO management; economic empowerment and entrepreneurship; and journalism from around the world to the United States for intensive fellowships designed to broaden their professional expertise. Participants spend approximately one month in the United States, during which they receive hands-on exposure to national legislative offices, state legislatures, local government offices, businesses, and non-profit organizations through carefully designed full-time fellowships.

I volunteered at  Rosie’s place. Rosie's Place was founded in 1974 as the first women’s shelter in the United States. Their mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment that helps poor and homeless women maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives.

I worked in a dinning room to serve meals for about a hundred of homeless women around Boston. I worked on Friday November 3^rd 2017 with another volunteers from Harvard and Boston University students, They are Cester, Kim, Alexa, and also another YSEALI Fellows, Seng Thong from Laos. It started at 10.30PM till 2.00AM. 

I and Seng prepare for the Bread and soup

I challenged myself into something I never thought that wasn’t for me, Served the homeless women and worked with a new person from another place randomly. Exciting! It’s an unforgettable moment in my life.

I definitely would recommend to youth to do the volunteer work, specially people who likes to helps the other. Life works in mysterious ways, Volunteer work think of as an exchange. The favors people has done for you in life, you are just returning it to a different activities. Everyone needs support or help at least one point of their life, might not be now but someday. So while you have the opportunity to give the help, might as well do it because tomorrow it might be you who is in need of that help.

My Self, Cester and Seng Thong

Thank for YSEALI and Rosie’s place for giving me unforgettable moment in Boston.