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Jakarta Post

Indonesians finding adventure, helping others overseas

Rini Hanifa had been working as a social worker for development NGOs for five years, traveling to remote areas of the archipelago to improve the lives of others

Novia D. Rulistia (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, November 11, 2013

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Indonesians finding adventure, helping others overseas

R

ini Hanifa had been working as a social worker for development NGOs for five years, traveling to remote areas of the archipelago to improve the lives of others.

However, the 30-year-old said that she had an adventurous spirit and wanted more '€” to go to some of the world'€™s poorest nations, where people needed help the most.

When the opportunity to volunteer for the local arm of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) came up, she jumped at it.

'€œI'€™ve always wanted to go to Africa,'€ Rini, who currently works with Oxfam in Yapen, Papua, told The Jakarta Post. '€œWhen I heard that VSO provides opportunities to volunteer there, I applied.'€

After she was accepted, Rini said that she was excited to learn that she could be posted to Mozambique, in southern Africa. '€œThen I found out that the situation in the country was not conducive at that time. So I didn'€™t choose Mozambique, and started to find information about my other placement [option], Guyana, and got hooked instantly.'€

In May 2011, Rini went to Guyana and was connected with a local organization, the Kanuku Mountain Community Representative Group (KMCRG), which deployed her as an agricultural development advisor.

Before starting in the field, Rini received various training, including intense instruction in the local language. (Guyana is an English-speaking nation in South America). She was posted to Moco-moco, a village that had no electricity, and visited 11 other villages and six hamlets under the aegis of the KCMRG.

'€œMy job was to introduce a simple organic agricultural system in a savanna, so that the people didn'€™t have to do the planting in the forest, which were protected,'€ Rini said.

Although equipped with a bachelor'€™s degree from the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Rini found that her work was not easy.

'€œPeople there were skeptical. They said what I did was useless, that it'€™s hard to plant vegetables on savanna,'€ Rini said, referring to the subtropical grasslands with thick undergrowth preventing easy cultivation. '€œBut I didn'€™t give up, and kept working.'€

It paid off. Although there was no irrigation system, the system devised by Rini started to produce results after four months.

Plants started to grow. Other farmers followed suit.

'€œIt couldn'€™t replace the benefits of forest planting, but it worked well for little vegetable plantings,'€ Rini says. '€œPeople could sell the vegetables that they planted there and earn additional money, too.'€

At the end of her one-year stint, Rini had trained 152 farmers, in additional to training other VSO volunteers on community development and helping to develop ecotourism in Moco-moco.

'€œThe experience also gave me tons of adventures,'€ she adds. '€œIncluding exploring Guyana'€™s spectacular habitats, horse riding in the savanna and even seeing an anaconda.'€

Another VSO volunteer Jeff Kristianto, 41, echoed Rini, saying that his work abroad had given him a priceless life experience.

While the Bali-based handicraft entrepreneur had previously joined other VSO Indonesia activities, he said he had never thought of volunteering abroad. '€œI decided to do it because I felt bored with my routine '€” and even planned to shut down my business. But then the head of VSO Indonesia told me to take a break for a couple of years and be a volunteer abroad.'€

So he went to Tajikistan in Central Asia in 2011 as a small business advisor.

His first post was in the historic city of Khujand, where he spent nine months developing a craft tourism program while trying to convince local artisans to get on board.

Jeff then met a family who made traditional fabrics using natural dyes. While they were the only people who knew the craft, the father wanted to abandon the business as unprofitable.

'€œSo he did something else, but I tried to convince him to do it again, telling him that what he did was interesting for tourists and could generate money. I used a personal approach to persuade him, becoming his friend and sharing my business experience in Bali. And it worked,'€ Jeff said.

Eventually, many tourists came to the village to learn how to make the fabric with the family, which has since participated in many exhibitions in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. '€œFor me, to see the return of the entrepreneurial spirit was something priceless,'€ he said.

Jeff also volunteered in Dushanbe for two weeks and in the town of Khorugh for six months, when a fall into a ravine led him to be medevaced out of Tajikistan.

Nina Silvia from Padang, West Sumatra, volunteered for the VSO in Bangladesh. She said that her volunteer work had given her another perspective about Indonesia. '€œWhen I was in Bangladesh, I saw that the people were so eager to develop their country. And that makes me want to keep developing my own country '€” to contribute more to
Indonesia.'€

Rini, Jeff and Nina were among the first batch of VSO Indonesia volunteers sent overseas.

Based in Bali, VSO has operated locally since 1968, primarily focusing on education, health, agriculture and natural resources management programs. Sending Indonesian volunteers abroad began only recently, in 2011.

Sarah Opheij, VSO Indonesia'€™s recruitment manager, said the organization was looking for people with at least three years'€™ solid work experience and who could live and work in developing country for up to two years.

While VSO previously determined which nations where volunteers could choose assignments; starting in November, potential candidates would be able to go online to apply for country postings directly, Opheij said. '€œIf someone is interested in some sector, they can see the competencies by themselves on the web and apply internationally. I think it'€™s a good change, because they have more time to prepare themselves.'€

Upon arrival in host nations, volunteers would be given a basic living allowance.

So far, VSO has sent 14 Indonesian volunteers to Bangladesh, Guyana, Kenya, Nepal, South Sudan, Tajikistan and Uganda, among other nations.

'€œMost of our volunteers will be asked to train people, because we want to make it sustainable and the only way to do that is through transfer skills and experience,'€ Opheij said.

Meanwhile, Jeff has made a recovery from his injury, although he couldn'€™t walk for some time. Although he still has to be wary of taking tumbles from which it would be hard to recover, his spirit is unbowed.

He'€™d like to go back to Tajikistan to say goodbye. '€œBecause I was there, I learned a lot of things, like handicraft designs and family values.'€

 '€œI never regret the things that have happened to me,'€ Jeff said.

- PHOTOS COURTESY OF RINI HANIFA AND JEFF KRISTIANTO

Meeting: At the end of her one-year stint, Rini (right) had trained 152 farmers, in additional to training other VSO volunteers on community development and helping to develop ecotourism in Moco-moco.

Under instruction: '€œMy job was to introduce a simple organic agricultural system in a savanna, so that the people didn'€™t have to do the planting in the forest, which were protected,'€ Rini said.
Under instruction: '€œMy job was to introduce a simple organic agricultural system in a savanna, so that the people didn'€™t have to do the planting in the forest, which were protected,'€ Rini said.

One the road: Rini Hanifa said that she had an adventurous spirit and wanted to go to some of the world'€™s poorest nations, where people needed help the most.
One the road: Rini Hanifa said that she had an adventurous spirit and wanted to go to some of the world'€™s poorest nations, where people needed help the most.

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