Volunteering in Multiple Schools in Bali: Listen to Jana's Story

Before the start of my study and work-life, I wanted to gain some experience abroad. I´m really interested in studying something in the social field, so I decided to help out in a volunteer project in Bali. I think our feedback can help you to make the right decisions: We arrived at the airport and were picked-up punctually. After that, the driver brought us to our student house in Canggu. Unfortunately, nobody was at home so we couldn't enter. This was a bit too much for me because I was exhausted and tired. Later we could enter the room which was different compared to German standards. But in the end, I was happy that we got this room. The next day the organization brought us our scooters and sim cards.

In the private school, I taught English to kids at the age of 3 years. They already understood simple words. I started to speak English with them and they spoke Indonesian with me. I didn't understand Indonesian but it worked out. The other school was a lot different. The school was small and didn't have an air conditioner which was sometimes really hard during the day. The classes were mainly in Indonesian but I could help the children in writing and counting. Half the time of the class I taught them English. All the kids loved the English class. Although the kids were about 6 years old, their English knowledge was at the same level compared to the ones of the other school. Furthermore, we went from Monday to Friday to an orphanage to play with the kids. Although we couldn't understand them we had a lot of fun with each other. We just worked 6 hours per day so we had a lot of time to discover the island.

In spite of some problems at the beginning, I would do this volunteer project any time again. The very fact of the beautiful culture and countryside plus all the experiences you can´t make during a normal holiday made this journey so valuable. I would have loved to stay a few weeks longer. I can really recommend this experience to everybody who likes to work with kids.