SL Ambassador's Blog★Introducing Indonesia program [Activities]
Introduction of Program hosted by Petra Christian University (Indonesia) [Activities]
SL Ambassador Kiko
December 9, 2019
#Petra Christian University #Indonesia #Summer 2019
I have been working in Begaganlimo village, Indonesia for about a month from July 12th to August 9th.
This time, I’d like to introduce a specific schedule and details!
For service-learning in Indonesia, we participated in a program called COP (Community Outreach Program) organized by Petra Christian University and conducted service activities in the village for three weeks with students from Indonesia, Netherlands, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea. This year, COP activity was three weeks, so I visited Surabaya and Banyuwangi with ICU students before COP activity started.
July 12 Departure
I transferred from Haneda to Singapore and went to Surabaya. It took about 9 hours from Haneda to Surabaya.
July 13 Visit to Surabaya
In Surabaya, we visited the Old Town, the War Museum, the Tobacco Museum, the coast. In the old town, there was a village where you can feel the historical life. At the War Museum, I was able to hear valuable stories from the Indonesian point of view, such as the history of Japanese occupation in Indonesia and the Dutch colonial era. At the War Museum, we visited Samplena's cigarette package exhibition, following the trajectory of the Samplena family who made a fortune as the “king of tobacco”. From the second floor of the Tobacco Museum we could see a cigarette factory that is still working. At the beach, I was shocked at the fact that garbage was thrown away as if it were a garbage dump. Many kinds of trash such as plastic trash and clothes were thrown away. After seeing this sea I could take the garbage problem for my familiar problem.
July 14-July 17 Banyuwangi visit
Banyuwangi is about 7 hours away from Surabaya by bus. I could see Bali island from the restaurant! In Banyuwangi, I went to a batik workshop, coffee plantation and Baluran National Park, where I was able to enjoy the Indonesian nature and culture. At the Batik Factory, we visited the factory and had a batik experience. At the coffee plantation, we roasted coffee beans and had coffee. In Baluran National Park, we could see the savannah and mangrove forest and enjoyed nature! At dinner, we experienced an Indonesian style of eating using hand and use banana leaves as a plate!
Next, I’d like to introduce COP activities!
July 18 Opening Ceremony
In the opening ceremony each country performed dance and song. We danced “Soran Bushi” and “Koi Dance”. After the opening ceremony, everyone ate dinner together and interact with each other. I could make many friends and it made my worry in village life relieve.
July 19 Departure to Mojokerto!
We went to Mojokerto, it took about 3 hours by bus from Surabaya and conducted team building. In Team Building, I think we could deepen the team ties through various activities!
July 19-August 7 Service activities in the village
The activities in the village mainly consist of physical work and non-physical work.
First about physical work!
For physical work, we built trash bank, picked up trash, created photo spots, mini gardens, gazebo, river staircases, and painted on the walls. In building a trash bank, we carried sand, stones, and blocks like a bucket relay and made it from the foundation of the building using cement! It was hard to do for the first time, but I was able to do it in cooperation with everyone! At the photo spot, we painted the participants' flags as shown in the photo!
Next about non-physical work!
As a non-physical work, we went to elementary school and gave instructions on brushing teeth and teaching English. The elementary school is in the next village. So the children are picked up by their parents by bikes as they go down the steep hill to the next village. In addition, we had another education program that is about teaching children in the village culture and traditional play in each country, and Japanese team taught origami! The Korean team prepared various programs such as balloon art and eco-bag making, so we also helped! ! Also, we had the culture night at the last day in the village. We served cousins of each country and I made miso soup!
Finally about village life!
Volunteer activities were conducted from Monday to Saturday. The daily schedule is
7:00 Get up
8:00 Meeting
8: 30〜12: 00 Volunteer activities
12: 00〜13: 00 Lunch break
13: 00〜17: 00 Volunteer activities
18: 00〜18: 30 Meeting
18: 30〜 Free time
22:00 bedtime
It was like this! We went back home by 21:00 because the villagers go to bed early so we tried to sleep as early as possible!! I also stayed home for three weeks in the village. I lived in the same house with two Indonesian students and Hong Kong students. The conversation with my family had an interpreter from an Indonesian student! Even though I didn't understand the language, my host family treated me like a real family.
August 7 Back to Surabaya!
I said goodbye to my host family and went to Surabaya by bus. I got a lot of banana chips and cassava chips from my host family, and my host mother cooked for me a banana crisp that I loved for souvenirs!
August 8 closing ceremony
Each village performed songs, dances and plays! Japanese team headed to the airport and back to Japan. Everyone came to see me off at the airport!
That’s all for now. See you next time!