By: Kamelia Putri (Volunteer Panda Mobile)

On Sunday (18/12/2016), Panda Mobile received an invitation to be involved in the Volunteer Festival at Komunitas Salihara, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. The Volunteer Festival was organized by the Good Action Team (Campaign.com, Indorelawan.org and Indonesian Future Leaders) by inviting volunteers to get involved in National Volunteer Month and celebrate together at the event. In addition to Panda Mobile, there were also other communities who came to celebrate together, such as Lentera Sintas Indonesia, Gerkatin, Staying Alive and so on.< br />

Panda Mobile is one of the conservation messaging media owned by WWF-Indonesia and involves the participation of volunteers in carrying out its various activities. In the Volunteer Festival event, Panda Mobile volunteers invited other volunteers to join the Panda Mobile team by becoming volunteers who spread conservation messages to the public through various campaigns and education activities.

Volunteers from various backgrounds met and exchanged experiences at Panda Mobile's booth. The excitement was palpable as they enthusiastically asked what Panda Mobile's volunteers do when delivering conservation messages in the school environment, how to make the children not feel bored with the material to be delivered, and how they can join as Panda Mobile volunteers. The Panda Mobile volunteers who attended eagerly shared stories of their experiences.

But what made the day even more special for the Panda Mobile volunteers was that many friends from Gerkatin Youth, the Indonesian deaf community, wanted to join Panda Mobile. One of them wrote on the Panda Mobile registration form paper, "I follow LINE WWF-Indonesia, confused about wanting to volunteer but there is no one. There are deaf people who want to volunteer but are afraid of not being accepted". Suddenly, we immediately said that the Panda Mobile team would be happy to accept volunteers from deaf friends.

Interacting with the deaf community is actually not the first time for Panda Mobile volunteers. During the 2015 Supporter Gathering, a group of deaf participants also participated in an activity about nature conservation held in the Upper Ciliwung Sub Watershed, Puncak. At that time, they were accompanied by an interpreter who translated every statement from WWF-Indonesia staff into sign language. If only there were volunteers from the deaf community who joined the Panda Mobile volunteers, of course the conservation message would be more widely received by various groups, including those who are deaf. The enthusiasm of our deaf community friends who want to become Panda Mobile volunteers makes us even more excited to deliver conservation messages to the wider community.

After they came flocking to the Panda Mobile booth, it was our turn to visit the Gerkatin Youth booth. Most of them are deaf and dumb. They told us not to call them deaf, it sounds weird. They prefer to be called deaf and it is not rude, unlike what people think. While at their booth, we were taught how to understand sign language. It made us gain more knowledge about language because sign language and Indonesian are very different. In addition, they also invited us to join a sign language class that will open this January.

The Panda Mobile team is excited to celebrate National Volunteer Month at the Volunteer Festival. We were able to share our knowledge, talk about our experiences, and encourage other volunteers to become conservation messengers as well.