Ghina Ghaliya of Indonesia says a stranger’s visit to her house led to a campaign to help students affected by the coronavirus pandemic.Ghaliya remembers when a garbage collector came to her house in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.The man asked if she had an old mobile phone his children could use to get on the internet.“He said it does not matter if it is the ugly one, as long as his children can use it for learning from home,” she said.“I thought there must be many people who need second-hand mobile phones out there.”Ghaliya works for a national newspaper.Shortly after the pandemic hit Jakarta, she and 11 other journalists organized a group to provide food and money to needy people.They started hearing from parents who wanted their children to study online but lacked a way to use the internet.Ghaliya thought of her meeting with the garbage collector when she and her group decided to provide mobile phones to poor students.Many of these children were not able to do face-to-face learning when the new school year started in July.When the journalists announced their campaign through social media, the reaction was overwhelming.Many people donated second-hand phones, while others gave cash donations.
