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'I am from Adelaide, South Australia. I am a registered nurse and
midwife and I hold qualifications in health counseling. I have worked
in the local Adelaide community for 20 years with a special interest in
mothers, babies and children. I was often lucky enough to spend a few
months each year in Bali on holidays. I got to know people, learn the
customs and even a little Bahasa Indonesia. I applied to be a volunteer
with Australian Volunteers International in Australia with a special request
to work in Indonesia. I was sent to Lombok! Fantastic! I now work with
BAPPEDA. My work involves helping plan services through the puskesmas,
puskesmas pembantu, polindes and posyandu systems. I live in a simple
house in a small village north of Mataram. The men are mostly farmers
and fishermen, and the women grow vegetables and fruit to sell at the
market. I am the only 'foreigner' that most have met, so when I first
arrived they were very curious to see how I swept my yard, washed my clothes
and cooked my meals. They soon found that there was not much difference
in housework! All the villagers have been friendly to me. I have a lot
of fun playing with the little kids and in the evenings I sit with a group
of happy children near a little warung. We watch village life pass us
by. It is always beautiful to see the sunset lighting up the mountain
peaks right through to Mt. Rinjani. Even after 18 months, I still feel
I am living in a dream! Although I must return to Australia in November,
I know I will come back to stay in Indonesia again in the future'. 'We're all families, so there are 6 kids - 3 in Maumere, 1 in Ende, and our 2 kids in Bajawa (James, 8 and Elin, 4 - they will go to local SD and TK). Rather than only teaching students at SMP level, our work is mainly working with teachers in SMPs. In-service training will be a major focus of our work. with EBTANAS being dropped, teachers will be freer to teach in different ways - our task is to give them ideas, models and different approaches to their teaching. We will be using materials that are easily obtained and that is where Radio Kangguru seems a likely avenue. My wife, Udis, is from Manggarai (western Flores) and has been in Australia 8 years - part of the plan is to keep our kids in touch with the other half of their cultural heritage.' This teacher education program is funded by AusAID and is managed by in Flores - Sikka, Ende and Bajawa. Duncan Buchanan, a former AVI from the early 1990's (also in Flores) is joined by fellow volunteers, Ginny Edwards, Sharon Kidman, and Jo Keating. Duncan sent KGRE an email recently and here is a part of what he had to say. 'We are mainly working with teachers in SMPs. Our task is to give them ideas, models and different approaches to improve their teaching. Regional workshops will be run in towns such as Mataloko, Aimere, Boawae and Riung. We will be using materials that are easily obtained and that is where Radio Kang Guru seems a likely avenue.' KGRE has already sent Teacher Packages and Class Reading Sets to these enthusiastic volunteers.
'When I first applied to Australian Volunteers International (AVI), my principle interest was to live and work in a Muslim environment. I had completed my first year of post graduate studies in Political Islam, and had traveled through some parts of the Middle East, so when AVI offered me a position as a volunteer English Editor, Teacher, and project Officer at UIN, the State Islamic University, in Jakarta, I was thrilled with the offer. Home for me now is in Ciputat, a leafy middle class suburb just outside the jurisdiction of Jakarta on the way to Bogor. I live just behind UIN campus, in a narrow lane in a traditional Batawi kampong where the cats and the chickens and the children play in the shade of the papaya and banana palms, and the ojek drivers buzz up and down the lane on their motorbikes till all hours of the night. Sleep is destroyed every other Saturday night by the Dungdut, played loudly for the celebration of weddings, births, funerals, and the like. The 4 or 5 mosques close to my house loudly and clearly help me wake up very early every morning. I enjoy my work as the English Language Editor of 2 academic journals, one on Islam in Indonesia, the other on Islamic cultures more generally, published by 2 research centers on campus. My work and my colleagues are both very interesting, and a great source of optimism for the future of Indonesia. I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the professionalism, warmth, and humor of my colleagues. I am beginning to appreciate the old adage that Islam is as diverse as the people who call themselves Muslim. Life on campus is a many varied thing. I have witnessed the enthusiasm with which students here greet the opportunity to learn English from a native speaker, and the determination of students who recently asked that I not teach their class on political grounds. I have tasted tear gas and heard the crack of rubber bullets being fired at students. There are numerous seminars, workshops, research projects and the like covering many issues held by both students and staff on campus. All in all, being a Volunteer in the 50th year of Australian
Volunteering in Indonesia has thus far been an exhilarating, inspirational,
frustrating, confusing, challenging and rewarding experience. I am very
grateful for the opportunity to be a Volunteer in Indonesia, and for the
warm welcome I continue to receive here in Indonesia.' Primary School Teacher in Pontianak 'I have now been living and working in Pontianak for 5months I began
work at the TK for Yayasan Gembala Baik in March My teaching role was
to introduce English into the kindergarten So I am now adept at singing
many action rhymes and songs which the children enjoy All the staff have
made me feel welcome and are very supportive People in Ponti are very
friendly and willingly give me much of their time often including me in
their family activities My work has expanded to supporting teachers in
the SD with From Melanie Prendergast and Ashley Keleher WHAT ARE WE DOING IN INDONESIA? 'That's a great question and one that we were asking ourselves when we first arrived. What could we possibly have that Indonesia could be interested in? We have been in Indonesia for a year now and are working at Yasa Luhur, a business college which offers one and two-year Accounting & Secretary courses; as well as short courses in Computers and English. Our school is a cheaper alternative to university. The school is important as it is helping to develop a skilled workforce within Indonesia. Our students are all ages (child to adult). We are teaching small (private) and large classes and are also heavily involved with curriculum development. We have been married for 18 months and this experience has definitely
taught us a lot about working together (at home and at work!) The many
challenges that come with learning a new language and understanding the
culture have strengthened our relationship.' ASHLEY : MELANIE : I'd have to say that I've learnt as much about my own culture as I
have about Indonesian culture. It's helped me to identify what I do (and
don't!) value about Australian culture. I enjoy the cultural exchange
and learning. Comparing cultures can be really interesting, and it's often
the source of many laughs. It really is a different life, and while we
are a long way from family and friends the different experiences available
to us really make it worthwhile. The
world is a different place for us now that we are getting to know our
neighbours.' Ann Williams in Palembang - 26 September 2002 'Thanks for continuing to send copies of KangGuru and thanks also for the offer of Kang Guru teaching packages, KangGuru in the Classroom and KangGuru Class Reading Sets. I hope you still have some copies of these as good as EFL teaching materials are as rare as hen's teeth here. I've been meaning to write to Kang Guru since May this year but somehow the time's slipped away. When I applied to come to Indonesia as a volunteer I thought that working here would be nice change of pace from my working life in Australia. How wrong can you be! I'm flat out like a lizard drinking! My posting here in Palembang is at a private language school. The school has around 100 teachers and around 6,000 (no, not a typo!) students ranging from the first year of Elementary school to university students and working adults. There are 8 branches around Palembang and my challenge is somehow to get around all of them so the students can have the experience (maybe the first and the last) of a lesson with the “native speaker”. I'm the only one of this exotic breed on the staff. Thanks partly to the write-up (or more correctly “write-off”) in Lonely Planet Indonesia, which more or less says Palembang isn't worth to visit, not many foreigners come here and for some of the children I'm the first real-life Westerner they have ever seen. Once they get over the initial shock of having an alien in the classroom we generally have a lot of fun learning English. Practically everyone in Palembang over the age of 5 wants to speak English and there are enough English language courses here to qualify as a major industry sector. In spite of this, the extent of most people's English is “Hello, Mister!” and it's become my personal reason to put the becak drivers right on the point whenever they greet me like this. The people here who can speak English are justifiably proud of Their achievement and very critical of what they consider to bad grammar of pronunciation. When I first arrived I think that perhaps they were a little disappointed that I didn't sound like the announcers on BBC World News (“She says 'to die' not 'today'!” was one teacher's reaction to his first encounter with me). But what amazes me is that my colleagues have managed to learn English at all. They've learnt at school where there is no syllabus, teaching materials are old and the method is grammar-based are passive. These method are, unfortunately, still alive and well in this course. One of the textbooks for Intermediate and Advanced Levels is a photocopy of a Grammar Book published in India in 1920, designed for native-speakers, not EFL learners. The Elementary Level textbooks (regardless of age or background of the students) are The New Standard English Readers published in Singapore (“Singlish”, as they say here). The students quite often know a lot about grammar but don't know how to introduce themselves or participate in a simple conversation about themselves or their families. My original job description was to teach EFL lessons and to provide some teacher development. Some of the teachers are still in school or university. Some are qualified English teachers but others may have degree in a discipline other than education. Now we are stating to phase in new teaching materials and to train the teachers in using them. We've also started a regular training program for teaching staff that will eventually develop into an annual training calendar. And first of all we have to train the trainers who are going to run the training programs. Over the past year I've managed to acquire, by fair mean and foul, enough books and other items to form a basic of a (very) small teaching resources collection, which at present, exists only in the form of an order from my boss to the carpenter to put up some shelves in my office (I have my own office with my name on the door!). When the shelves eventuate then the little library will too. It would be nice to have something material to show for my 2 years here. Life is busy outside work, too. Palembangese must be the most friendly people on earth, or this is how it's been for me. Palembang is about as big as my home-town, Brisbane, but the population is larger, around 1,5 million. After one year in Palembang I've been to more weddings, baby namings, house blessings, and funeral than in my entire life-time (not exactly a short one!) in Australia. The weddings are usually on Sunday so I'm never at a loss for something to do with my spare time! But I must admit that now, after the initial fascination with the new culture has subsided a bit, it's a luxury to have a whole day to myself. My contract here finishes in May next year, and it would be nice to see my mini-projects completed or being managed by my colleagues by then. In the meant time I would really welcome a visit from you, either in the form of a workshop for the teachers or just a drop-in visit. The students and teachers would love to meet another Aussie. So far I've had lots of expressions of interest but no actual visitors from home, though I'm still hoping. As I mentioned earlier, I'd really appreciate copies of the Kang Guru cassettes and workbooks if you still have some to spare. One of my teaching colleagues introduced me to Kang Guru as she receives the magazine and listen to KGRE. It's good to know that there's still an Aussie presence on the airwaves now that Radio Australia is off the air. I hope you can come and visit us in Palembang sometime, Kevin.'
Mary
Johnston
'It is only when we are close to people that we can understand their hopes and fears, their perception of life. And it is only then that the messages we bring will begin to have an impact on their lives.' - Mary Johnston (1940 - 1991) This year is the 50th anniversary of Australian Volunteers International (AVI) or as it used to be known, Australian Volunteers Abroad (AVA). Over 350 volunteers have traveled to Indonesia since 1952. One of those volunteers was Mary Johnston, an extraordinary woman indeed. Mary devoted over 20 years of her life to helping and empowering the people of developing communities in Indonesia. Mary first came to Indonesia in 1963 as part of the Volunteer Graduate Scheme, shortly after graduating from the University of Melbourne. Her assignment was a community development worker with a rehabilitation centre for disabled people in Solo, Central Java.Working in rural villages and with poor urban communities in Central Java, through a number of non-governmental organisations, Mary was involved in various aspects of community development work - especially low cost programs aimed at creating self-sufficiency among disabled people, and health initiatives for mothers and their babies. At the heart of Mary's approach to community development was the recognition that disadvantaged people (indeed all people) need to be in charge of their own development. 'People are proud of their own efforts ... such success reinforces their feelings of self worth and dignity as human beings.' The value of her work, her intensive contacts in the non-government
sector, and the long relationship she had with Indonesia made her a very
important link for the Overseas Service Bureau (now Australian Volunteers
International), which always continued to support her as a volunteer.
Mary inspired many other Australian Volunteers who worked in Indonesia.
Mary was forced to leave Indonesia in 1988 due to increasingly poor health
and died peacefully on October 3rd, 1991. Australian Volunteers International provides opportunities for Australians to volunteer to live, work and learn in partnership with people of other cultures. Over the past financial year, we have recruited, prepared and supported 898 Australian Volunteers to work with developing communities in 50 countries throughout the Pacific, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East and in remote Aboriginal communities in northern Australia. Australian Volunteers are placed in a wide variety of public sector and non-government organisations, including: government departments and authorities
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