When I decided to participate in a project at the health sector in Indonesia, I had no idea of what I have to expect. But I can already say, that it surely was not my last volunteering project. It was such a great experience to get a short impression of the Indonesian health care system and their culture. I hope that I can give you a short impression of the experiences I have made at the project and with the host family.

At my first day at the BKPM I was enthusiastic and ready to help wherever I can. Than I realized how different their functioning is and that I had to take it slowly. At the beginning their way of working was a bit confusing for me. To be honest I am still not used to it. I arrived every day at 7.00 am for a ceremony with the staffs. Afther that they have breakfast and start talking for more than an hour, before they start working. But I do not want to say that I did not like their way to work. It was always great to have time to exchange experiences with the staff sand to build relationship. Like that I have learned a lot about their culture and the work. During my time I had the chance to see three different departments (tuberculosis, physiotherapy and children) which was very interesting. Sometimes I had my difficulties to help them with their administration work because I didn`t understood the bahasa. So when you only stay there for a few weeks, it would be easier when you already speak a bit bahasa. And sometimes it wasn`t easy to get used to the lower hygienically standards.

But most of the time was amazing! I felt very welcomed from my first day on because all staff members were so kind, warm-hearted and open-minded. I have also spent a lot of time with students who did internship at BKPM during my volunteering. A lot of them could only speak some words on English but we have always found a way to understand each other.

During my volunteering program, I had the chance to live by a great local host family! From the first day on I felt very welcomed because they did everything to make me feel at home. They brought me to amazing places in and around Semarang. One of the best experiences was, that they invited me to join a traditional wedding. It was an amazing evening I will never forget!

Finally I would like to thank everyone who made my short stay in Semarang unforgettable! For me it was impressive to see how close the relationship of the locals in the communities at work and in the neighborhood are. And I am so thankful that everyone has welcomed me with such kindness and gave me the chance to be a part of this communities.

Before I came to Indonesia, I have never been in Asia. I knew that Indonesian culture and French culture are very different but I could not realize it. This cultural gap has made my trip intense and very rewarding.

In the same time that I integrated the orphanage, I integrated a community. Indeed, I met friends of Mama (the mother of the orphanage) but of the children too, Mama's family, the church community, etc.This allowed me a better understanding of Indonesian way of life, especially the relation to religion and family because they are very different than in France. I think that this interaction with every members of the community is very important.

I had the chance to teach in a school during my month as volunteer. This was not planned at the beginning but I would like to try and I thank it was possible because I had nothing to do when the children were in school. Well I spoke with Mama and Reastini from Dejavato and finally we found one school. So I had the chance to be an English teacher in Thursday morning in a kindergarten for two classes. It was easier to teach the older class (around 5 years old) because the children were very active and excited to see me and it was not the case in the younger class. In fact, when Indonesian children saw me, they became excited or they were very afraid so sometimes it was complexes to create a dynamic lesson.

Education way in Indonesia is very different than in France. So I was thinking a lot about the gap and for the moment, I still confuse and I can't choose the best system. My thinking is still not finish!

For the last, I want to thank all the people who helped me in Indonesia. Indeed this trip was fun and interesting but very challenging too and sometimes I had hard moments, and without them my trip could not be so happy. I want to say thank you especially to Dejavato staffs, Mama and Papa, the children of the orphanage, my teacher of Bahasa Indonesia and her friend and all the teachers of the kindergarten school and Ilka.

Health Project El-Roi Orphanage

Written by Laurie, volunteer from ICYE FranceWritten by Andrea, volunteer from ICYE Switzerland

Living in Indonesia, I gained a lot of experiences and so many interesting things.

While the Japanese class, students asked me a lot of questions about Japan. From those questions, I could understand how people regard Japan. Students also asked me how I thought about Indonesia and shared Indonesian culture such as foods, clothes, language, dance, etc. I came here as Japanese teaching assistant, but it was a lot more like cultural exchanges program.

The 17th of August is Indonesian independence day. At that day I was surprised to know that my host family's grandfather knew "KIMIGAYO", which is the national song of Japan and he sang military songs that I had never listened. I also hear about the history of the World War Two from him. Actually

I already heard the story from my grandparents who was American and Japanese, but it was my first time to hear the story from another country related to Japan in that times.

The relation between religion and daily lives were the most interesting for me. Indonesia has the largest population of Muslim which I learned in University. Seeing a lot of Mosques, the sounds from Mosque, religion class in senior high school, and the time for pray. Sometimes people in here asked me the question "What is your religion?" which never asked before in Japan. These things show me that this country got a lot of influence from religion.

These days, I think religion is a hot topic because of the IS. The more I got information about the IS, the image of Muslim that I build get worse while I stay in Japan. However, the days when I stayed in Indonesia neutralized my paranoia of Muslims. In Indonesia, I saw church which was next to a mosque that shows how Indonesian people are very tolerate upon each other regardless of their religion.

One day in the classroom, there was a problem between the students. Then she told me that she was going to keep silent only for a day because they told me that they could not be mad at something and someone more than three days. The people here understood each other and I could see their effort to live together harmoniously.

They pray five times a day. For first, I thought that is too much. This country is not punctuated as Japanese but they don't skip the pray. In my opinion, praying is not just for praying but it has function of time scheduling. From those reasons, I believe that we should not build an idea from only one aspect. It is true there are people like IS, but it is also true that there are people like I have met in this country.

In Indonesia, I got a lot of experiences which I never got before. Moreover if I came here just only for holiday and it was caused by this program. I want to say thank you who organized things for me. I'm sure I will never forget the experience I got from this program.

Thank you Dejavato.

Jembrana International workcamp 2016 was held on 8-19.-. august 2016 in SMPN 4 Negara , Jembrana regency, Bali, Indonesia. This project was in partner with SMPN 4 Negara. This project brought 2 volunteers from France(Louise Wasson, Lucie Lambert), 2 from Korea(Jeung Nam Kwon, Nuri Kim), 1 from Belgium(Daphne Sarpyener), 1 from Taiwan(Chen Mei-Chun), and 1 camp leader from Indonesia(Rudi Saputra).

This project focused on Education and Cultural development. We lived in the local family there during this project.The volunteers did the project in the school to assist teachers in teaching activity especially English teachers. The interactions between the students and also the volunteers is really good, sometimes the students came to homestay to do their homework and doing interaction to the volunteers. They also try to learn Balinese traditional dance, Handy-craft and musical instrument.

The interaction between the volunteers and the local people also really interesting. They went to cultural ceremonies that Balinese held, such as Makepung, Purnama Ceremony, and Ngaben procession.

The volunteers also helped the school preparation for Independence day such as Marching Competition, Choir for Independence day ceremony, and so many thing s. Two days before the project ended, we did renovation in the school. Every volunteers painted their own flag in the pot, and put the plants inside.

In free time the volunteers went to Menjangan Island, Pulaki temple, Baluk Rening beach, Cupel Beach, Makepung(Buffalo Race), and Jembrana Festival.

The last day was very good. All of the students of SMPN 4 Negara, Teachers, Staffs,and all the volunteers held an farewell Ceremony, every volunteers gave their short speech for the last time and their impression, we had a traditional dance and music performance and took pictures together. In the evening, we did cooking-exchanges and Farewell party with the local people and everyone that helped our project during we lived there. The volunteers were cooked food from their country, and everyone can eat that. It was such a great experience for all the volunteers to do volunteering in Jembrana, Bali project. Cultural understanding, and international youth friendship is one of the thing that really important. Stronger with volunteering!

Jembrana International Workcamp

Mandarin Project

Written by Rudi, Indonesian leader

"Why you choose Indonesia?”

For this question¸ in the beginning I would said that I got chosen by the organization, but right now I am so glad that I come to Indonesia. The reason are quite a lot, the people, the food, the culture.

At the first when I came to SMA Kebon Dalem I was touched by the teacher and students passionate, everyone was really nice and welcome, I was introduced in every classes, and every teachers, I was really nervous but when I saw their eyes and smile, I suddenly feel more release. After that, every day I get closer to them and understand more about their daily life and language, and really glad to have a chance to share my country- Taiwan to them. Teachers are also really nice and treat me like I am one of them, and that makes me feel really warm. There are also some internship students from Semarang State University, and they are so willing to teach me Indonesia language and share the culture's different, make me feel like I am not alone at here, and really happy to become friends with them in the end. Every class that I enter I feel like they are really trying their best to learn Chinese, although some of the students are too shy to speak out, but they will have to know the language is always okay to make a mistake, most important things is that try to speak out loud, that will help a lot for learning.

For the host family, I have to say that I am really lucky to meet them, every day prepare lots of food and try their best to speak Chinese with me, using the only few words they know but we always chat for over an hour. They are so sweet that they try to bring me to lots of places to site seeing. We went to Borobudur, Susan spa, and lots of beautiful places together and when I get the flu and really uncomfortable, they take care of me just like my parents, the most touching thing is that when we are taking a picture one time, host father said "come stand closer, just like part of our family" that's warm and feeling nice for a guest like me.

Experience in different culture and different language, makes me more willing to think about what is the meaning of traveling, and actually got to know more about my country when I introduce to other people or I found out the culture difference when I start to ask people. Through traveling, you will found out that everything will be more easier since you ask and speak out, you will be surprise how people are willing to help you, and I think this is the point of travel.

Written by Yu-Hsuan, volunteer from ICYE Taiwan Written by Sarah, volunteer from CIEE Japan

Japanese Project

Newsletter 20167th Edition

When I arrived at El-Roi orphanage in Semarang, I knew only very little things about Indonesian culture and less about Indonesian language. First days were a little bit hard for me, because I had all t o l e a r n a n d t h e c h i l d r e n o f t h e o r p h a n a g e c o u l d n ' t s p e a k E n g l i s h .But step by step, I was adapting to the way of life (very relax) and to children's schedule. In the same time, the communication with children became easier, we used some Indonesian words and some English words, and sometimes hand signs. This fast adaptation was possible because the children are mvery curious and active! In the orphanage, I played with them and I could also cook with Mama or help children to clean.