Internship

So I just graduated from high school and currently on the holidays. Holidays from getting out of high school to going to college are very long, around 3 to 4 months. So, I have decided to be an intern. Where, you ask? At my church. It’s an organization. It’s a social thing. So this organization I applied to is very heart-warming. Why? Because it’s an organization to strengthen and build connections in families. This organization is called Focus on the Family. You might have heard of this organization somewhere in the states like in Colorado or maybe you have never heard of it at all. So let me tell you a little bit about it.
Being an intern at FOFI (Focus on the Family Indonesia) is breath-taking. Yes, it’s hard, it’s got a lot of tasks at hand, it makes you sweat buckets and buckets full, and it’s sort of numbing. But I love it. Because this organization is the beginning of life. I remember when I was in junior high school that my friends weren’t very close to their families, and even if they were, they were very…let’s just say, mean. And awkward. I’ve always thought of myself as the most blessed teenager in the world, because I get to be close to both of my parents, and even my brother. Although we fight a lot, too.
Why do I think this organization is heart-warming, you ask? Well, for starters, I just got in to this organization this week, and they have already given me a handful. So the first task they gave me was to translate horrible-numbers of papers from English to Bahasa Indonesian. Now this would be so easy, if it were the other way around. Bahasa Indonesia has never been my thing, but I said yes to the task anyway. As I started squeezing my brain out for good Bahasa Indonesian words (good thing there’s Google Translate, though), I started reading the entire program. And it made my heart ache a little. Reading their entire program about building commitment and affirming love to one another in a family was just…wow. I don’t think you would understand it when I tell you, because you will have to read and translate it yourself (like please help me), but seriously, their program touched me. Their events touched. Their entire thing just touched me in a way no one has ever touched me before. So they have 6 main events: Mother & Daughter, Mother & Son Cookout, Father & Daughter Date, Father & Son Camping Trip, Husband & Wife Date Night, and Marriage Encounter. Each event has exciting and deep ways to strengthen one’s bond to another. Every word they put in those papers for their rundown on the program, I take them to heart and it’s amazing what they are doing. The events are a bit costly, but they work. I went to one of the events way before I got into this intern thing. Let me tell you the story of that.
So weeks before the Father & Daughter Date, my mom bought two tickets. She told me that I will have to take the ticket and go to the event with my dad. I said no. “But you need it. It’s good for you. This event is gonna be like a Gatsby party. You’ll love it!” my mom had said, but I still declined. After being so pushy and annoying, I started to cry that night before I slept. I felt imprisoned to do it. It didn’t feel at all like I was gonna go to a fancy Gatsby party. It felt like she was pushing me into a shrink filled with daughters who have daddy-issues. I don’t need fixing with my dad, I had thought, it’s not important. My dad didn’t let out a single reaction about the event. He was basically very private about his feelings. After weeks have passed, the event was on. My mom forced me into a black dress and such and I finally said to myself that she wasn’t going to let go of this. I finally tamed my feelinga down and just went with the day. When I got into the event was held, I was impressed. It wasn’t like a huge Gatsby party. It was a small room, but they decorated it good. They wanted me to be their model for the event, so I said yes. My dad and I did the video-shoot for the event and after it was done, we both went inside and the event started. It was awkward between me and my dad. Like it was out of place. Yes we talked and smiled and laughed, but that wasn’t enough. That wasn’t enough to fill the large hole inside my heart and the gap in my family. I was surprised to see my close friends being the heart-felt speaker of the event. Fortunately, I knew every single one of the people in the room, as the daughters, fathers, even the staffs and the EO of the event. I was chill at first, but then my friend started speaking. And then she started crying. And then I started crying. She talked about her father, how she never had the perfect figure of a dad in her life and I smiled at her from my seat. We both sort of made each other cry LOL. And I started crying really hard. There is always something about her that makes other people feel her in ways I could never comprehend.
Well overall, each event gives us the opportunity to answer questionaires, write deep and even dark letters to one another. The events simply wanted all of us to start opening the ugly scars in our hearts, pour it out on a page, and start bonding. Because honestly, my generation and under sucks at bonding with our parents. Truly. Not only is there a gap of age but also a gap of communication. And FOFI gives us ways to bridge the gap between these families.
So basically, I love my job. I’m sitting at junior high school right now, taking pictures of moments. I’m helping out at another organization, called No Apologies. This organization are buddies with FOFI. No Apologies is basically an organization that roams around teenagers. While FOFI is about building families together, No Apologies are breaking down the horrible pattern of social media and helping teenagers build self-confidence and letting them know how much they are worth to stay away from SEX before marriage, DRUGS, and to know a deeper meaning of LIFE and LOVE. They’re pretty cool, too, although this place reeks and currently sweating buckets full.
So yeah, being an intern at FOFI and helping out at NA is awesome. I’m not only helping other families and teenagers around Indonesia, but I am also helping myself out. My director of FOFI, Valerie Mellanov Gan, told me that the best way to help yourself out is to help others out. It’s very true. And what’s also cool is that she’s my mom’s BFF so things aren’t as shaky. Anyways thank you for reading and I am so sorry I haven’t been posting anything lately. I just got inspiration today. Hehe