Hello Bali! : Janina and Her Meaningful Volunteering Journey

I came up with the idea to do something meaningful after graduating from high school before I eventually will start studying. Hence, I decided to volunteer on the beautiful island of Bali for 8 weeks. I applied for this volunteer program in the orphanage in Denpasar at the beginning of this year. As this project only takes up 3 hours per week, I was offered to participate in two further programs. Eventually, I had the chance to join 3 different volunteer programs.

The first program took place in a private Christian school in Kerobokan. The school encompasses a playgroup, a kindergarten, a primary school, and secondary school. I supported the playgroup as a day-care volunteer. The children were about 2 and 3 years old and, to my surprise, could speak and understand comparatively good English. Every day from Monday to Friday, I worked from 8 am to 2 pm. My work was quite relaxing as there were about 5 children and a local supervisor. Those children studying English and Maths always had a packed schedule before lunchtime. I enjoyed watching and supervising the children when they played games or just fooled around. After 8 weeks of volunteer work, the children became very dear to my heart and my farewell was difficult.

The second volunteer project took place in an NGO school. This school was financed by the private school (my first project) and, starting from my 4th week, I could assist the teachers every day from 8 am to 10 am. This school was only a 2 minutes’ drive from the private school. The pupils were struggling more than those in the private school. This was reflected in their behavior. At this moment the NGO school offers free education to a class of 15 children, who are about 5 to 6 years old. The teachers were mainly singing songs, telling stories or were praying together with the children in the English language. I was given 30 minutes to teach English to the children. The children only knew the ABC so far so it was not that easy for me. Nevertheless, I used different methods to teach children the different colors and different parts of the human body. After 5 weeks I got so used to the children and had such a fun time, that it was again hard to say goodbye.

Finally, I volunteered in the orphanage in Denpasar every Monday and Friday for 1,5 hours. Even though I had to drive about 30 minutes to the project it was definitely worth it for me, as this project was my favorite. This orphanage gives shelter to over 40 children aged 6 to 19 years. The older girls were not that interested in my presence as the smaller girls. 5 to 10 girls were super excited every time I entered the orphanage. I used to play cards with them or played with the skipping rope I brought from Germany. Their level of English was not really advanced so I also helped them with their homework, which was a great pleasure for me.

"Well, I had a hard time saying goodbye to the girls and to be honest, I would give everything to get into the plane and take off to Bali."