On Sunday, August 25th 2024, the 12th grader committees of SMAPJ SDA’s annual art performance event “Artomic Retroverse”, visited a local inclusivity and therapy shelter for children with special needs, “Sahabat Gempita”. This extraordinary and brand new tradition started as an expression of gratitude for the success of this year’s Artomic. With the spirit of humanity and care towards their community, Artomic Retroverse’s committee on this day, made an effort to share a memorable and fun day to the childrens in “Sahabat Gempita” by bringing fun games, activities, and companion.
Sahabat Gempita is a therapy shelter focusing in helping to shape a special way of learning and skills & abilities training inclusively for children with special needs and different abilities. Miss Yeni, the founder of Sahabat Gempita shared her background in creating this shelter. She stated that the inspiration rooted from her own experience in struggling to find a suitable method of education for her three sons whom all has special needs, “So I figured out that there might be also mothers out there who struggled the way I did, and that it could be really helpful if there is a designated place and organization to help them and help them connect with other mothers who experienced the same,” said Miss Yeni. In the process of creating Sahabat Gempita, Miss Yeni was not alone and was also helped by Mr Syaiful, the head of National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) in Surabaya. In his opening speech welcoming SMAPJ SDA in Sahabat Gempita, Mr Syaiful told the story on how the shelter was started and how important inclusivity is to these group of young generation whose needs are often invisible to the public eye. He also expressed his best of appreciations towards the Artomic Retroverse’s committee and SMA Pembangunan Jaya Sidoarjo students who are one of the few numbers of young local students aware of this and made an action for it.
After the opening speeches were delivered, the day of fun activities began. When the students arrived at Sahabat Gempita, the children there were in the middle of a mini drawing and coloring competition together. Therefore, the students’ first approach to the children was to try to blend in and getting to know them while giving a companion to them as they finish their masterpieces for the competition. Through simple “hello”s and name inquiries, the students were able to make loads of new friends with the children in Sahabat Gempita in a blink of an eye. Before long, tons of laughter were heard, the sweetest of smiles were seen, and fun activities such as games were shared. SMAPJ SDA students interact with the children in Sahabat Gempita in many ways such as conversations, mobile games, motoric games, and many other using both verbal and sign language. After the children submitted their artwork, their art teacher announced the winners and the winners were then received appreciations from the Artomic Retroverse’s committee. A quick lunch break then quickly followed. Afterwards, the SMAPJ SDA students were given the opportunity to see how the children learn skills such as traditional dance at Sahabat Gempita. The children were seen to be incredibly enthusiastic and motivated to learn this particular skill teached by their traditional dance teacher. Then, after a quick closing ceremony and expression of gratitude from both parties, the event on that Sunday ended with a photo session.
The few students who had the opportunity to take part in this event acknowledged the gravity and importance of this event. As the pioneers of this event, Artomic Retroverse’s committee wishes for this not to only become a one-time occassion but rather a new tradition in SMA Pembangunan Jaya Sidoarjo that will continue to be improved and done. This wish is reflective of what Mr Syaiful said in his welcoming and appreciation speech that Sunday, “If being ordinary is your goal then repeat history, but if it’s extraordinary that you’re aiming for then create new histories.”
Editor in Chief : Syakira Azzah K. S.
Journalist : Syakira Azzah K. S.
Photo : Jasmine Shaista R.
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