I volunteered in UWRF (Ubud Writers and Readers Festival) originally for CAS, I have learned so much from the people I met there, they taught me communication skills and how to be responsible, I was placed in the film screening department, which allowed me to meet various well-known Indonesian directors and screen-writers, such as Garin Nugroho and Rayya Makarim.
My assigned tasks were relatively pretty simple, I was the youngest in my division, which I originally thought would be a disadvantage, however my fellow volunteering friends were all very friendly. I mainly had to escort the audience to their seat, and ensure the whole film screening segment occurs thoroughly. All volunteers were required to attend a general briefing to confirm that they know their assigned schedule and tasks, I ended up having a shift on that day, we all had to travel to the venue via motorbike, I had to share a motorbike with my assigned volunteer partner for the day, as I am not legally allowed to drive vehicles yet. Roaming around through Ubud in the middle of the day under the scorching sun, is definitely one of my highlights! My remaining shifts were all held later in the evening throughout the event, this gave me time to actually explore and enjoy Bali, but night shifts are equally tough, so if I’m not exploring the streets of Ubud, I prefer to just take naps and catch up on my assignments of course (no, not really) I also had the opportunity to accompany Mr. Graham and his year 10 and 11 crew on one of the days where I had my night shift, this includes showing them around the main venue and just basically helping him babysit them. On some days, the volunteering work can get extremely hectic, for example, when there aren’t enough chairs for the audience to sit in, I had to help move spare chairs from another nearby venue, when some visitors won’t follow our rules and regulations, being told off by one of the film creators was something that also really stuck by me from the whole experience. All in all, if you are considering to do this a future CAS experience, It is something that I would recommend, sure its bitter-sweet, but it really taught me how the working world works, I met new people, made new friends, and met famous creators as well! Ghina Watiman |