By: Keyan, Class 11
SO… Ubud Writers Festival..
Now that the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is over, I have a few reflections I want to share as a volunteer who attended. Conversations were strong and the fellow volunteers and guests were very friendly. I appreciate that this was a special opportunity since I was able to offer support, even in the smallest way, to an interesting, vibrant, and thought-provoking event. The vibe was like an outdoor Sunday market with amazing food and stalls serving a variety of snacks. Inside the location, spread across a handful of venues around Sangingan, there were book-launches, presentations, interviews and talks. On the third day, I attended a book launch for the book “Democracy in the Digital Age”. At first, honestly, I wasn’t too interested because it is a weighty book and the title didn’t catch my attention; however, once the trio of authors started mentioning the core ideas in the book, which linked together many different heavy concepts like religion, politics, government, cultural heritage, and globalization- it was captivating and hard to ignore. This is coming from someone who doesn’t like reading and loses attention very quickly!
Other than working our shifts, I got to spend time with my friends and got to know one another more deeply. I notice this is an important part of friendship, more than only hanging out in school. Wearing that volunteering badge going onto location and leaving gave me a sense of pride and contentment, since I was part of something meaningful. I left UWRF a little melancholic, because I saw these people for a few days, all of whom were friendly, all doing similar jobs and tasks, coming from different backgrounds – it was a joyful event and a really appreciated change in scenery. My message to the school is that these opportunities are rare, and at the end of the day, “life is just a series of experiences, each one of which makes you bigger” – Henry Ford.
Although being a volunteer didn’t teach me academics or necessarily make all the difference between getting into college or not, it increased virtues in me like accountability, independence, and ingenuity. These qualities may come less obviously in a school setting. I’m very grateful to the coordinators, mentors, and friends that made my experience at UWRF memorable & worthwhile.