SL Ambassador's Blog★Introducing Indonesia program [Reflection]

Introduction of Program hosted by Petra Christian University (Indonesia) [Reflection]

SL Ambassador Kiko
December 19, 2019
#Petra Christian University #Indonesia #Summer 2019

Read [Activities]

This time I would like to introduce my impressions through service activities in Indonesia!

First of all, the reasons I chose Indonesia ...

Service-learning in Indonesia works with students from Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and the Netherlands as introduced in the previous article. I thought that volunteering with students from various countries is the most attractive aspect of service-learning in Indonesia, so I chose Indonesia as an activity destination! In addition, I thought it would be a precious experience staying in the local house during the service activity. Also, I thought I could know how villagers live life and what kind of problems the village has. These are some of the reasons that I chose Indonesia for my service destination.

Next, what I felt through service activities ...

I did various physical and non-physical work in the village. Our activities were decided in advance by Indonesian students, so we couldn't actually investigate the local needs, think about the activities and make actions. To be honest, some of the activities questioned whether they really met the local needs. However, I did not end the service activity with "I couldn't do anything", but I was able to learn a lot from the villagers through the activity. In addition, I could gain “new interest” and “future issues” through our service activities.

The state of the garbage in the village was either littering or burning. No matter how much trash was picked up, it immediately returned to the original state, and the villagers' consciousness about trash could not be changed.

However, I thought it would not work while thinking that it is a waste of time for picking up garbage, so I changed my mindset and picking up them with thinking about what kind of garbage is thrown away, in what place, why do they burn and how can we solve the problem. I think picking up trash activity has become a meaningful activity by having such minds. In addition, by seeing the real situation of the garbage problem with my own eyes, I felt that not only Indonesia but also Japan is responsible for garbage issues in that Japan exports plastic trash that needs a lot of costs to deal with to developing countries. Also, I thought it would be important to share many people what I learned from service activities and what I felt by visiting the field and make people aware of the sense of problems.

On the other hand, there were many opportunities to engage with children in non-physical work. Since there was no elementary school in my village, whether the children go to school depends on whether their parents pick them up to school or not. Kids who didn't go to school were playing all day. The village children were very friendly and looking forward to playing with us and our cross-cultural exchange programs! When I could see the children enjoying our activities, I felt a sense of achievement! While it was the children's teeth that shocked me the most through my involvement with the children. The village children had no custom of brushing their teeth, so their teeth were full of decayed teeth. In this way, I think I was able to notice the problems of the village from the relationship with the villagers through the service activities.

Finally about life in the village…

Beganganlimo was relatively high on the mountain, so it was cool at night and I enjoyed shooting stars and the beautiful night sky every day! In addition, we were able to spend a lot of fun and fulfillment time every day, such as talking about various things while lying down outside to see shooting stars and making a surprise for my friend’s birthday!

Also, the village I went to had almost no signal, so I lived without a smartphone for three weeks! By letting go of the smartphone, I think I could realize many things that I had never noticed in my life and the importance of communication with people. It may be thanks to letting go of the smartphone that I was able to spend a fulfilling day talking, playing with friends, playing with the children in the village

At first, I was very anxious about living in the village, but all the villagers were very kind and welcomed us warmly even if we couldn't communicate, so I could gradually get to enjoy the village life! Also, the villagers always gave us snacks, bananas, and juices! I learned the importance of the connection with people and kindness through the environment that all the villagers were like a big one family and live a life with helping and supporting each other. In addition, I could realize how blessed I was through the village life that I have never experienced. Also, village life made me think about “happiness” every day. I felt the happiness that I have never felt in my life in Japan when I saw the sky full of stars and when I could get water. I think that the value of feelings of happiness is different from each other, but I felt that I could make someone happy by cherishing the small happiness one by one.

I felt a lot of struggles for a month, such as the unfamiliar living environment, language barriers, and the necessity of our service activities, but I could meet many friends, places where I want to come back one day, and family I want to meet again. I think I could spend such a fulfilling month because I participated in service-learning. I think that what we did for the village was really small, but I could learn more from the villagers than we did. I want to be involved in volunteer activities that can help people who are in trouble, with the kindness and compassion learned from the villagers.

Thank you for reading! That's it for Indonesia!