About

Spending the new year of 2012 at a Thai Karen Village in Chiang Mai

On February 28, 2012, I gave up two job opportunities in one morning. It felt a bit surreal, especially since I have been looking for a job after I left my previous job. I was 23 years old, what the hell was I thinking or doing?!

I don’t doubt I would have enjoyed either of those jobs. But was I ready to do it for long term? Somewhere along the line, I realized that I still wanted to do what I was doing a little longer (see below for what I do!). So, with some savings left in my bank account from my previous job, I’ve decided to embark on a (possible) year of being a penniless wanderer.

I’ll still have to contribute financially to the family every month- they have resigned to the fact that their daughter is somewhat abnormal. But whatever my financial situation, I will still stick to my value of giving as much as I can to others without holding back.

Oh, I still wonder if I’m doing the right thing. I’ve decided to start a blog to chronicle the journey so I can look back and decide whether it was worth it. As a child, I was always afraid to make mistakes, but now I’ve learned to do all sorts of stupid things and learn from it. Maybe this will be another, who knows?

Who am I? (in short) 

My name is Bel. I am Indonesian, but have lived in Singapore for many years. My background is in Linguistics, Anthropology and Education. So I really love languages, teaching, people, travel, and culture.

Some of the things I do: 

• I volunteer at a lovely orphanage school in Jakarta known as Yayasan Prima Unggul. I help to maintain their website, promote the school as well as communicate with any volunteers, corporate entities or individuals interested in helping us. The school’s unique point is teaching entrepreneurship to the students. Since orphans are often receivers of goodwill, the school’s aim is to empower them to be creator of jobs and give back to the community instead of always being the receivers. You can check out the website here!

• I’m webmaster at a portal for Southeast Asian youth. We are a fast growing community that blogs about news, travel, culture, food, programs and everything related to Southeast Asia. Check out SEA Youth Say So here!

• I volunteer translate for an organization known as Institut Leimena in Indonesia. They have a great program that serves to educate the public in civic education so that the general populace may be motivated to be active participants in the country’s policies. While I still have a lot to learn about my country’s politics, I’m so glad to be part of this! I feel that it’s my way of being a good citizen.

• I also have a strong interest in Burma (Myanmar) issues and have close ties with the Karen people. I’m hoping to volunteer more in the country. At the moment, I am helping a small community based organization based in Yangon run by youths with whatever I am able to do. I am just so inspired by their spirit! You can check out their website here.

When there’s a need, I make websites for organizations that I take interest in pro-bono. I find that I’m doing less of that now since I prefer to focus on a few organizations now instead of spreading my own resources thin across the board. Of course, if there’s an interested client, I sometimes make extra bucks on the side doing freelance web design or translation. If you’re interested in supporting what I do, do contact me to find out how you can help the organizations above or check out my portfolio if you need design, writing or translation work.

While I don’t get paid for volunteering, many of these things actually keep me very very busy, so in my free time, I like to play on my ukulele. I also like to bake because I just can’t resist dessert! I love chocolate, strawberries, pudding, jelly, cake … you get the idea.

My cute Ukulele has been through many adventures