PMI celebrates Volunteers’ Day in Solo

Around 10,000 Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) volunteers from all over Indonesia gathered in Surakarta (Solo), Central Java, on Monday to celebrate PMI Volunteers’ Day.

“This commemoration serves as an appreciation of volunteers,” event organizing committee chief Tri Wuryanto said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

The event began with a morning exercise and continued with a parade to Balekambang Park with barongsai lion dancers accompanied by the marching band from 11 Maret University.

Participants stopped in the park to listen to a speech delivered by motivational speaker Andrie Wongso.

Tri said PMI chairman Jusuf Kalla was unable to attend the event as he was currently undergoing a medical check-up in London, in the UK.

According to Tri, Volunteers’ Day was developed after the tsunami hit Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004, when an immense number of volunteers took part in disaster relief efforts.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono dedicated Dec. 26 as PMI’s official Volunteers’ Day the year after. (awd)