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Steps of kindness

On 11 October 2025, I joined an activity called Saint Mary’s Way (SMW), which is a special program for all 9th grade students at SMP Santa Maria. The purpose of this program is to help students learn and practice the values of Mother Mary through acts of service. For my SMW experience, my group and I were assigned to visit Panti Asuhan Cahaya Kasih, which is located on Jl. Karya Mukti No.132 in Bandung. 

I didn’t do this activity alone. I worked together with 13 of my classmates, and our goal was to share love, joy, and kindness with the children at the orphanage.
A few weeks before the day of the activity, we had to go through several stages of planning and preparation. Guided by our teachers, our group created a proposal for the activity, wrote the rundown, and divided the responsibilities into different compartments. After all the planning documents were completed, we started the next part : the preparation process.

For this preparation, we went to a department store to buy the items we needed for our visit. We bought snacks, small gifts, and other things that we wanted to share with the children. Besides that, we also made handmade gifts such as flowers, keychains, and other small souvenirs using pipe cleaners.

When the day finally came, my friends and I gathered at Panti Asuhan Cahaya Kasih in the morning. The children welcomed us warmly, and we started the activities we had prepared. We played games, sang songs, told stories, and spent time getting to know the children there. Many of them were very creative when they colored pictures, and they were also excited during the Bible quiz.
During the event, I took the role of reading the Scripture passage and leading the opening prayer. 

I also helped coordinate the distribution of the handmade gifts so that all the children received something. Throughout the activity, I learned many things, including humility and serving others sincerely.

Overall, my Saint Mary’s Way experience was meaningful and unforgettable. Even though what my friends and I did was simple, we received so many smiles and so much joy from the children at the orphanage. This experience encouraged me to continue sharing love, joy, and kindness with others around me.