The Hope Giver

Chalks. Writing board. Books. Globe. Classroom. Children. Laughter.

Children’s laughter fills the air, excitement fills their heart. On one side, children were focusing their attention on their book and writing board. On another side, children were running around with their friends. Also, on the other side, children dancing and playing traditional games. This is a common view you will see when you join ‘Little Hope’. An enormous ‘Little Hope’ you could give to children that need you and your hand.

Giovania Kartika, people used to call her Nia, a woman in her 20s who has a great big dream to share happiness with every child in need. Nia has been living her life in different cities even countries throughout her lifetime. She was born in Medan and then come back to her parents’ hometown, Pekalongan, until her junior high school. She moved to Ambarawa, but not for long, then she moved to Salatiga during her high school time until her graduate. For her postgraduate, she covered a long distance to Lund, Sweden. And until now, she is still staying in Sweden and work as a Procurement & Portfolio Project Management Support in McNeil AB (Johnson & Johnson) in Helsingborg, Sweden.

During her time studying in Salatiga, the desire and motivation for her to establish Little Hope emerged. Around August 2016, with zero experiences and only based on her courage, Nia participated as a teacher volunteer in Vietnam for more or less 6 weeks. In Vietnam, she works as a teacher for children who needed more education.  

“At that time, I was thinking, why I volunteered and helped children in another country meanwhile the condition and circumstance in my place in Indonesia was nothing better than this”

“In my own place, there must be a lot of children who wants to study but their family’s condition was not well enough to support their kid’s education. I could have help children around me first.”

Motivated by the experiences she got after volunteering in Vietnam, Nia starts to build her dream. To fulfill her dream, she has done a lot of efforts, such as proposing the event to the community which helps her to volunteer in Vietnam, but at that time there is a lot of consideration, so the event could not establish below that community.

“I could not give up on this. So, I share my desire to build this community with my best friend, and she loved my idea. With the help of sharing, I could bring together the people who have the same passion as me, the passion to help people surround us”

“Finally, in November 2016, I and my friend could establish the community, and we named it ‘Little Hope Indonesia’.”

“Little Hope. Just like its name, we hope we can be a helping hand for people who in need. Also, there is a reason why we named it ‘Little Hope Indonesia’. Although at the moment we only have the community-based in Salatiga, we hope that later we can ‘expand’ our hands to other places in Indonesia.”

And, it is proved.

Until now, Little Hope Indonesia had expanded its community base from Salatiga to Little Hope Semarang.

“That is the privilege of having a wide relationship with other people. And of course, never forget, UKSW is also playing a big role in this community expansion.” She added while having a big smile and amusement on her face.

However, although she succeeds in accomplished her dream to make this community, she couldn’t deny that worry and doubt also exist in her heart.

“Woah.. it was a mixed feeling in my heart at that time. Happy.. of course, I’m happy, my dream becomes a reality. But I also afraid, I’m afraid that I cannot fulfill the expectation and hope of the children, the school, and also my friends that support me”

“But I always believe if we have a good faith and a good intention, there will always a way for us, because God will never let us walk alone.”

For Nia, Little Hope has a special presence in her life.

“Little Hope is a place for me to become a blessed for other people. But not only for me, that’s also applied for everyone in Little Hope”

“If you’re asking, do I feel like owning this community, yes of course! But Little Hope also belongs to everyone who has been involved in it” From the way she explained this, we could feel that Little Hope and the people in Little Hope mean a lot to her and they have a special presence in her life.

Starting from a small community, with only five or six people in it, gradually Little Hope becomes a community that can be a hope for everyone. Not only for the children but also for people who search for a place to sharing together and be a blessing for more people. Until now, Little Hope already in their batch 8 of volunteers, that meet with a lot of children and share their happiness.

“Keep dreaming as high as you can and keep having a faith in everything you do, if there is a will there is also a way” A sentence that Nia always keeps in her mind in everything she does.