2 Weeks volunteering on Sembalun East Lombok

“Where on earth is Sembalun Village?” that is my first question when I saw the website of 4^th World Love. It seems pretty far from anywhere in Lombok, but this is the thing that challenged me to come there and release my willingness to experience such voluntary works during my semester break of university.
The most tangible thing to notice when you got here for the first time was THE FREAKING BEAUTIFUL VIEW of the village. Can you imagine how hills, mountain, green rice fields, waterfall and beach could locate in one particular area?

Volunteering..
Devi teaching English on sembalun...

Having warm welcome from the local host family, I felt like I found my second family in Sembalun Village. They never forget to “feed” me three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Once we got chance to go to the farm and had lunch together there, that was great time! Development Centre) which we use pretty much here. It turns out that CDC is the local branch under the NGO 4^th World Love, so people in the rural area would rather get used to the term CDC. The CDC crew are all awesome! They are both so determined and funny at the same times. I laughed a lot whenever I hung out with them. During the free time, sometimes we got trekking around the mountain, went to the waterfall and the beach. They were all such loyal and patient companions to take me see around the rural towns. Even, they (in collaboration with my host family) managed to have surprise for my birthday on the third day I was here (the 4^th July). That was my first experience having birthday away from the friends and family, but that was also my first experience for celebrating my birthday with “new family”!

How did I spend my everyday here? Definitely I got classes to teach here in the afternoon. I taught English to the kids here, generally twice a day. One time in CDC area, and the other class was held in a rural area called Barat Desa, 15 minutes from the CDC area. I always love their energy and spirit in learning English! Seriously! I even held extra class on Saturday and Sunday for the kids in Barat Desa because they did need some English lessons and surprisingly they got excited for the English class even on weekend! Then I found myself more attached with the kids in Barat Desa, especially when they asked me out for a picnic in the hill on my last day here. That was so fun! They always asked me when I would return back to Sembalun, the question which is kind of hard to answer, but I answered “Next time!”. I think I might come back here someday and I would try to publish this voluntary program to more friends so they could involve in this amazing experience.

I learn a lot here. As someone who’s been living in big city in West Java, I learn about simplicity in Sembalun Village, how they live their life more simply. I learn a lot from the kids that I taught, how they had strong willingness to develop themselves by learning English excitedly.  I learn about the life in CDC, how the guys live their life without too much stress and pressure because they do it all with love and humor a lot. I also happen to see some cultural uniqueness here in Lombok, which is different from Java and that makes me realize how I love Indonesia more for having diverse cultures and tribes in one unity!

I would love to thank my warm host family, all the CDC guys and Royal (the coordinator of the CDC) for his patience in responding my endless questions of everything and the last but not least to Frederick who helped me make this voluntary experience happen!
Deviana Wijaya Dewi
deviana89@hotmail.com


read more about volunteering on sembalun at CDC official website

Read More

Volunteering on Sembalun Lombok

Come and help support the development of local communities in and around Sembalun, through our Volunteer Programme, “The Friends of Sembalun”. Through this Programme we have introduced a number of initiatives.
They aim at:

• Using volunteer skills to help develop the community of Sembalun.
• Exposing the local community to outside cultures and languages, primarily English.
• Providing volunteers with a sense of what it is like to live in and be part of the community in Sembalun

Areas in which you can contribute (what you can give us)
Within the Volunteer Programme we’ll try and match your skills to the development areas we’ve targeted. These are:

• Teaching skills for employability
• Language teaching in local state schools and our Community Development Centre (CDC)
• Teacher training
• Teaching soft skills in computing
• Web development and maintenance
• Marketing and tourism
• Fundraising
• Ecological farming
• Project management

And when you go home, we want you to be ambassadors and spread the word about the work we are doing here in Sembalun.
Costs
Costs for a one-week stay per person are USD 150, and for a two-week stay USD 300. We would recommend however that you stay with us for at least two weeks as we believe a longer stay will be more beneficial to both you and us. You are of course very welcome to stay even longer.
Your financial contribution
100% of the fee will go directly into our Community Development Programmes. These include:

• Scholarships for local children to enable them to complete their basic education. Many families are unable to financially support their children through basic education and are forced to send them to work in the fields. Please click here for more information.
• Buying supplies for the community development centre – exercise books, pencils, art supplies, computers, desks.
• Salary of community development centre teachers.
• Buying musical instruments to support the re-establishment of a local Sasak music group.
• Training and education of farmers in eco-agriculture and the re-introduction of traditional organic fertilisers. The use of chemical based fertilisers has, over time,  drastically reduced soil quality and forced famers to become dependent on more powerful and expensive variants. We want to break this cycle.

Package Include
The package includes full board and lodging with a local Sasak family and a choice of activities to help you integrate and get a feel for life in and around Sembalun.  We’ll try and tailor these to meet your personal interests.
Activities can include:

• Farming and gardening
• Weaving
• Soft trekking – bird watching, botanics, monkey spotting and so on
• Jungle trekking
• Visiting natural sights – White Deer waterfalls, calling wild cattle on the high grasslands, the Pergasingan hill overlooking the Tambora volcano on Sumbawa island, the Pusuk Pass and so on.
• Sasak cooking
• Language learning (Indonesian and\or Sasak, the language of Lombok).
• Traditional Sasak dancing
• Attending local ceremonies (when occurring) such as weddings, ???
• Climbing Mount Rinjani – Please note, that due to the cost of arranging local porters and guides, fees for climbing Mount Rinjani are not included in the volunteer package.

Please note we are not offering a tourist package holiday. We want you to gain a deeper insight into the social and cultural life of the area. The best way to do this is by becoming an active participating member of the community, living in it, working in it, and participating in all of the daily activities that go with being a part of it.  Amongst other things it will mean being formally introduced to the head of the village and eating the delicious local Sasak food. You won’t find Italian, Chinese or MacDonalds here. It’s chicken, coconut, and lemon grass sate; spiced fried rice and egg (for breakfast!); thick, sweet, hot local coffee in small glasses, and many, many other dishes.

For more information about volunteering on Sembalun East Lombok please visit CDC official website
 

Read More