Published: 12 Oct 2018

President University participated in helping to ease the burden of those who are affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Palu and Donggala through 8 students who volunteered for 7 days. Led by Hoppi Yoon, lecturer of International Relations, and M. Shihab, lecturer of Communication, a team of volunteers departed from Jakarta on Wednesday (10/10). The volunteer team also brought logistics and donations that had been collected from the contributions of all President University academics.

The focus activities of President University volunteers is to treat children's trauma in several villages in Palu. Many children there did not want to open themselves because of the disaster they have experienced, therefore President University volunteer team along with BKKBN volunteer approached slowly to make them willing to open themselves by playing and sharing stories with the volunteers.

"There is still a lot of damage, refugee tents everywhere, some places like the mall have not been evacuated and most of the houses are collapsed and there was great damage. Along the road in Palu, there are only tents and damaged houses, even though they are still inhabited," said Jhotie Tauran, one of the President University volunteers.

Jhotie also admitted that the first day of being a volunteer still felt heavy but left a very deep impression because the children seemed to enjoy the activities held by volunteers and it was a good start.

"I want to go directly to help the people in Palu, and my heart was moved to help, and want to feel what they feel in a situation like this. I also want to be a comforter for the children there who must have great trauma," said Jhotie.


President University turut berpartisipasi dalam membantu meringankan beban korban gempa dan tsunami Palu dan Donggala melalui 8 mahasiswa yang menjadi relawan selama 7 hari. Dipimpin oleh Hoppi Yoon, dosen Ilmu Hubungan Internasional, dan M. Shihab, dosen Ilmu Komunikasi, tim relawan berangkat dari Jakarta pada Rabu (10/10) lalu.  Tim relawan juga membawa logistik dan donasi yang telah terkumpul dari sumbangan seluruh sivitas akademika President University.

Fokus aktifitas dari para relawan President University ialah untuk mengobati trauma anak-anak yang berada di beberapa desa di Palu. Banyak anak-anak disana belum mau membuka diri dikarenakan bencana yang mereka alami, oleh karena itu tim relawan President University beserta rekan relawan BKKBN melakukan pendekatan secara perlahan sehingga mereka bersedia membuka diri dengan bermain dan berbagi cerita dengan para relawan.

“Kondisi di sini, masih banyak kerusakan, tenda pengungsian dimana-mana, beberapa tempat seperti mal belum dievakuasi tempatnya dan hampir sebagian besar rumah runtuh dan terjadi kerusakan besar. Sepanjang jalan di Palu, yang ada hanya tenda-tenda dan rumah-rumah yang rusak, walaupun masih di huni,” ungkap Jhotie Tauran, salah satu relawan President University.

Jhotie pun mengaku bahwa hari pertama menjadi relawan masih terasa berat namun meninggalkan kesan yang amat mendalam karena anak-anak terlihat menikmati kegiatan yang diselenggarakan para relawan dan baginya hal itu merupakan awal yang baik.

“Saya ingin terjun langsung membantu masyarakat di Palu, serta hati yang tergerak ikut membantu, dan ingin ikut merasakan apa yang dirasakan mereka dalam situasi seperti ini, juga ingin menjadi penghibur bagi anak-anak yang pasti mempunyai trauma yang besar,” ucap Jhotie.