The value of the "Gotong Royong" Culture

One of the eastern cultures (local wisdom) that is still managed by the people of Indonesia, especially the Acehnese people is the culture of "Gotong Royong" or when interpreted in general language means mutual cooperation. Until now, mutual cooperation is still inherent in the community. Gotong Royong behavior is not only about completing work, but at the same time to strengthen public relations.

In this post I focus on one of our activities in cleaning the environment and building a "balee" or a cottage as a place to rest by "Gotong Royong".

Build bamboo balee and cleaning up the warehouse environment

This idea is to the desire to use some Areca trees that have just been cut because they are old. Pinang tree trunk in our opinion, can be used as a pillar of balee rather than wasted. In its construction, we as employees agreed to build cooperation or teamwork. Although the company has agreed to finance its full construction including other material costs and craftsmen.

On Saturday, September 7, 2024 we agreed to start working from 8 am to finish. Incidentally today the new fleet driver works to distribute gas during the day. So that all employees in the company warehouse totaling 10 people are available and can work together in the construction.

In the picture above, all employees look busy with their work. Some employees are splitting bamboo and then tidied up by other employees before they are installed, there are people who put up the Rumbia roof and other activities. All work voluntarily and happy. Another pleasure in teamwork like this is words that shout each other among employees as a place to show off and bring down each other in their work to invite laughter.

Another employee named Januar is also busy with the work of cutting grass. Especially for this job, it's just that he can tame the lawn mower well. This is because of his background as a farmer and still farming until now in his leisure time as a fleet driver. The helmet used serves as a head protector from a small stone that might be able to fly when the engine knife is exposed to a stone when cutting the grass. After working for more than 2 hours, Januar managed to cut the grass inside the warehouse area and outside the warehouse area. And this is the result :

The series of simple activities that I explained above may seem ordinary, we only make a simple hut from bamboo as the floor and rumbia leaves as the roof. The hut or balee in Acehnese is the perfect resting place for drivers and fleet assistants after being tired from work and returning to the warehouse. Especially in the hot weather conditions for the past two months.

However, the message or value of this activity is not only in its physical form, but in the application of cooperation and gotong royong that fosters values ​​of solidarity, creates a sense of togetherness and fosters affection between fellow employees. Here, of course, we agree that local wisdom like this must continue to be maintained on a small or large scale in the current era of globalization which is oriented towards individualism.