Name: Teo Meinesa Hetira

NIM: 231111028
Class: IAT 1A

FUN OF HOLIDAYS AT THE MOSQUE WITH CHILDREN

I am a member of RISMA (Mosque Islamic Youth) in my village. That is a kind of

mosque organization for groups of young teenagers. Some of the teenagers are still in middle
school, high school, college, and some are even working. But we all always get along and
greet each other.
When the school holidays arrive, we at RISMA plan to hold an exciting agenda for
children at the mosque. The aim is for children to fill their holiday time with useful things
and also reduce the habit of playing with cellphones at home. This exciting agenda has a total
of 14 activities that last for 10 days. Among these activities are memorizing Surah Al-Kahf,
archery, making fruit salad, planting trees, drawing and coloring, and many more.
Many children were enthusiastic about taking part in this exciting holiday, namely
around 100 children. Activities start at 08.00 am and finish at 12.00 noon. Among the
activities that are the most exciting in my opinion are making salads, handicrafts and growing
vegetables.
In the salad making activity, we, the committee, prepare the ingredients. Among them
are melon, watermelon, papaya, oranges, mayonnaise and liquid milk. After that, it wasn't
long before the children started to come and were asked to sit in long rows. Previously they
were gathered to memorize Surah Al-Kahf verses 1-10 together first. After it was finished, I
and the other committee members started giving fruit one by one to each child. It's a bit
dizzying because of the noise and lots of picky fruit. But understandably, children are like
that too. After finishing distributing, the children began to be creative in making the salad so
that it looked as beautiful as possible. They started cutting the fruit into small pieces and then
putting them in plastic cups. I went around to see how excited the children were in making
salad. Until I found a salad that was neatly arranged and beautiful. It turns out the maker is
my neighbor. He is very smart and ambitious in everything. I then took a photo and made it
into a story on WhatsApp. Very happy to see the children smiling happily. It was almost
midday, the committee and I rushed to clean the mosque. The children were waiting to be
picked up while eating the salad he made. They felt very happy.
The next day was an activity to make key chains from flannel. As usual, I and other
committee members prepared the materials. Meanwhile, the children memorized Surah Al-
Kahf guided by other members. We talked to each other and joked happily between RISMA
members. Not long after that the children had finished memorizing. We immediately directed
the children to divide them into groups to make it easier. After that I started teaching the
children to make key chains, from cutting, gluing, to forming them. In this activity there are
prizes that will be given to the maker of the most unique key chains. The children
immediately had the ambition to become winners. When it was almost midday, I looked at
the key chains made by the children. Some make flowers, cats, lollipops, and many more. I
and the other committee selected all the key chains and then determined the winner. The
winner was very happy to receive a prize and the others were happy because they could bring
their own key chains.
The next day was the most exciting day. Our committee invites children to plant
vegetables in plantation areas. The journey to get there is by rabbit train. This adds to the joy
of the children. They looked very happy and smiled all the time during the trip. That makes
me feel good too. After arriving, they were first invited to tour the garden while being
introduced to vegetables and fruit. Together with the committee, I guided them so they
wouldn't slip because the ground was muddy. Next is planting vegetables. First, our
committee directed them to take polybags and then told them to fill them with soil and
fertilizer. Their hands were very dirty but they were not the least bit disgusted. Then I saw
them like they were experts in planting mustard greens in pots, even though they were still
small but they were independent. It made me smile to see their very funny and adorable
behavior. When the activity was finished, the children immediately cleaned their body parts.
Because they were still small, some of them had their clothes almost soaked hehe. Then as a
souvenir, I, the committee and the children took a photo together. It's a really fun thing to
capture those exciting moments. Unfortunately after finishing I was a little tired because the
children couldn't carry the pots to take home. Finally I brought several pots from them and
carried them 2 at a time. Indeed, the pot is very heavy, it's natural that children are not strong.
After that we all went home and got on the rabbit train again.
Furthermore, there are still lots of exciting activities available, unfortunately I can
only accompany the children in the activities above. But it became the most memorable and
unforgettable memory for me. Seeing their faces full of smiles makes me very happy. Also
added is the cuteness of the children's behavior which sometimes makes me laugh. Besides
that, meeting RISMA members is something we always look forward to.