Staff's Stories: A Privilege as a Humanitarian Worker

#WorldHumanitarianDay - Nine years of working as a humanitarian worker make Nelly Siswaty Sembiring (33), Child Protection Specialist of Wahana Visi Indonesia feels joy in her life. This joy comes from the many good things that she can provide to children and society. According to her, humanitarian workers have privileges that are often not obtained by other professions.

"As humanitarian workers, we also have the privilege of being able to first get knowledge and access to a lot of information that is useful for everyday life," she said.

Nelly started her career at WVI in September 2012 as a Child Sponsorship Management Project Coordinator in Singkawang Regency, West Kalimantan. Before working at the national office in 2017 and contributing to WVI's child protection strategy, Nelly spent four years serving communities in several areas in West Kalimantan.

For her, being a humanitarian worker is not easy. Even so, being a humanitarian worker means being given the opportunity by God to work for a better life.

Conducts various dissemination and training are what she likes. In that way, she can meet children and the community directly and see changes in their lives.

According to Nelly, the process of waiting for a change in society is the most difficult thing in the profession of a humanitarian worker. This is not an easy and instant process. It takes patience and comprehensive assistance so that people can understand and implement positive changes in their lives.

One moment that she cannot forget was when she had the opportunity to accompany a consultant to interview with the government in Bengkayang Regency. At that time the government told various programs and implementations to support the creation of child protection.

“When they started telling stories, I was grateful to have been given the opportunity by God to witness the fruits of service in the Singkawang and Bengkayang Areas Program. Although the process is not always easy, nothing is in vain,” she said.

The woman who likes to spend her free time enjoying Korean dramas is also involved in various WVI disaster response programs. She is the frontline who ensures the minimum risk and threat to children after a disaster. Nelly also helped design psychosocial support activities for children according to their age group and was involved in the Children's Friends Room activity as a form of psychosocial support for children and the community.

Currently, Nelly hopes that she can continue to contribute to child protection services in Indonesia.

"I hope that children who experience violence can report and get appropriate services for their recovery," she concluded.

Written by: Putri ianne Barus, Communications Officer Wahana Visi Indonesia