Having come from very humble beginnings in India, my parents gave me first-hand information about how many people in the world face deep-rooted issues with poverty that prevent them from acquiring basic education or health care. So when the recent pandemic exacerbated this problem, I decided that at the Global Concern (GC) Jakarta Street Kids, I should endeavour to make a substantial difference that went beyond awareness to action. 

At Jakarta Street Kids, we partner with the Jakarta-based organization XSProject to sell their colourful up-cycled products to fund children’s education in Indonesia’s massive trash picker community. Unfortunately, at that moment the pandemic had halted both XSProject and our means of raising funds, which meant the whole project would soon be shut down.

With this daunting challenge at hand, I intended on advocating for the GC. In preparation for taking a leading position in this task I wanted to first acquire respect and authority, so I tried becoming the GC’s communications officer. In the past I had done many services, and in each experience I always leant towards the role of communications officer. I believed that communication was the heart of any functioning system, and a GC essentially relies on the communications officer as the spine of the operation, relaying information internally and externally and always being on alert. As communications officer I was responsible for handling and facilitating many of our meetings and operations. I felt great knowing that other people relied on me and I was able to meet their expectations.  

I had held a meeting with the project’s representative in Jakarta, and I feel like I accomplished a lot. I was able to effectively get a lot of information down, and help organise us as a service into the most effective method of completing this task.