經濟系11級　施純洋

      As an old saying goes, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. With the summer break fast approaching, and opportunity strikes as the International IT Volunteering Activity to Aceh, Indonesia requires more volunteers, I finally decided to take part in this project after some days of pondering, and of course, persuasion from my ever-convincing friend from Malaysia, Honda Yan. This moving out of my comfort zone begins on the month of March in 2008.

      This project of about three weeks requires months of preparations, especially teamwork and resources, the trainings have begun even before I have been admitted to the group. Meetings and instructions were given out every Thursday on a weekly basis. At first, I find it hard to emerge into the group. As I have mentioned earlier, everyone else have been carrying out this training even before I have joined. I did my best to fit in to the group, and to learn what others have learned way ahead of me. I began having crash courses in fields of knowledge such as free software, administrative tasks, teaching methods, and Indonesian culture and language. We even carried out fund raising schemes and promotional stints in radio stations. Our activity partner, the Bamboo Community University, even opened classes regarding further understanding in free software, photography skills, and self-empowerment. Arhou Liu, the representative from the Academia Sinica, provided us with his know-how in IT. Another specialist from the OSS Application Consulting Center, Eric Sun, even dedicated his expertise and experience to assist us in achieving our goal of service.

      As the anticipated day of departure on July 31st creeping closer and closer, our team of six Tsing Hua University students and two Indonesian friends, Ima Dwitawati and Risma Rita, did our best in what little time we had to prepare everything we need, locally and in Indonesia. With so many things needed to be accomplished, we started to question ourselves if what we are doing can really meet the needs of our friends in Indonesia, especially in Aceh, the Tsunami-battered place back in 2004. Even if we have partners like the Bamboo Community University and some Indonesian NGO’s assistance, we still face ourselves with little knowledge about the place; we had difficulties and problems of all sorts. Communication and trust between us and our partners became the core issue of our problems. Some of us even cried for feeling lost of reason to continue striving. But escaping is not the route to fulfillment; when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

      The end of our preparations begins a new series of tasks, the workshop itself. When we got there, we faced various adversities; our scrupulous planning is powerless against unforeseen events. We encountered internet connection instability, power interruptions, electric generator’s battery being stolen, and all sorts of strange incidents. Some of us even got ill from not being able to adapt to the food and weather of Indonesia immediately. Stumbling upon assortment of obstacles cannot interfere with our goal now; fortunately, we are equipped with fast imagination, improvisation and decision-making. Overall, I can safely say that our workshop has been quite a success.

      Although our stay in Aceh had been a short one, the Indonesians showed us that they are truly heart-warming people especially Bus Tami and Basrul. We understood a lot of their culture, Muslim religion, and language as they show us around their locality. Labi-labi public transport driver Hasbi Dawod became our chauffeur and close friend as he drove us to our destinations. The Indonesian-Chinese community also helped us a lot to appreciate and enjoy Aceh. Indonesian-Chinese Febrina Lionojaya has been particularly hospitable and friendly to us. We could have not survived in Aceh if not for her.

      Aceh team members have been my most treasured memories of all. Mountain Climbing Club leader Jackily Huang has been our energizer as he never fails to amuse us in times of difficulties. Pearl Lin, with her naïve and simple outlook in life, reminds me that happiness is about choices that we make. Jada Zhang, with her attitude of never giving up, taught me how to be tougher person. Teacher-software whiz Joe Yeh has been the model of a true educator. Team leader Yvonne Chen, with skills, decision-making, and most importantly, the attitude, makes her a very inspiring person that will forever be imprinted in my mind.

      Words cannot further describe how I felt during the duration of our project. What took is the first step, and the thousand miles ahead will definitely be overcome.