UK phase
April 10, 2008-Hilton Hotel, Stansted
We've happened to had a posh Community Welcome at the Hilton Hotel, in the BAA Stansted Airport area, because BAA was one of the sponsors for this programme. It was fun; there's speeches from BAA, the community and GX representatives, delicious meals, our presentation-we sang Indonesian song Di Sini Senang Di Sana Senang, and DJ in the end.
Padang phase
June 21, 2008-Mayor's Service House
The mayor of Padang has arranged a Community Welcome for us in his 'white house'. Apart from us and our host family, the guests also includes the people from FKS (Forum Kota Sehat/Healthy City Forum, the main partner of GX in Padang), Volunteer Placements, journalists, and government staffs. After we've had our dinner, there's speeches from FKS, the government and British Council representatives, and then, continued with the entertainment from Korps Kota Padang (Padang City Corps). They do the plate dancing, and in the end of the dance, they broke the plates by stambed it with their bare foot!
THE GCDs
or Global Citizenship Day.
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Once a week, all voluteers will meet up as a team to improve their knowledge of the community, or a development issue. And also to help the team to reflect on the experience, to take stock of what they are learning and to plan future events. A different counterpart pair facilitates each GCD. In the end of the meeting, the team usually take an extra 30 minutes to to Bahasa lesson.
UK phase
Phil & Ilsa
Topic : BAA AND THE COMMUNITY
the GCD explored the role of one of the exchange's main funders across the UK and created a debate around Stansted's proposed airport expansion.
Hannah & Nova
Topic : PREJUDICE
including how it feels and how it can be tackled.
Lindsay & Judith
Topic : HUMAN RIGHTS
we discussed specific human rights, how much people know about their righs and ways we can ensure people have their rights. we also looked at some of the current human rights issues in the world, including : torture, the death penalty, religion, and China hosting the Olympic Games.
Jen & Uus
Topic : SLAVERY
about the slavery in general in the world. Our aims were to inform GX volunteers about the slavery in the past and in the modern time and what can we do as young people to prevent this problem. We give tasks to the volunteers to demonstrate the condition of the modern slavery by giving them the scenario in a role play. We also give them videos about the human trafficking which is connected to the slavery.
Imel & Angharad
Topic : GLOBALXHANGE GOES GREEN
we looked at the problem of Global Warming and try to do something to help. not a very big thing, simple things that we can do in our daily life, such as not using plastic bags, prefer walking than driving, using electricities efficiently, etc.
Malcolm & Isaac
Topic : SHOPPING RESPONSIBILITY
with buy and selling game, held on Meadows Children Centre, you try to expand the amount of your production, but the big company have full access to arrange the price. how do you feel?
Stuart & Fauzan
Topic : DEFORESTATION
we explored why rainforrest in Indonesia + natural forrest in th UK was experiencing deforestation at a rapid rate. in this GCD, GX team also planted a tree at the GCD venue, Meadows Children Centre.
Waine & Hendry
Topic : RECYCLING
this is a passionate subject of mine which made it easier to talk about. we had guest speakers, fun games and quizes as well as lovely food at dinner time. i think it had a good impact on the team as it had a light hearted feeling.
Helen & Lidya
Topic : RELIGION
we explored the 4 major religions and looked forward at what to expect in Padang during Ramadhan.
Sophie & Karina
Topic : IMMIGRATION
we looked at different types and reasons for immigration, and also some famous refugees, so volunteers questioned their own image of an immigrant. we used discussion, quizes, and roleplay. it was mostly based on Britain and we also looked at media reports and how they differed from the actual situation.
Indonesia phase
Phil & Ilsa
Topic : COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN CONTEXT
explored the different approaches to work in the UK and Indonesia and helped Volunteer Placement teams to bond and stimulate project ideas.
Lindsay & Judith
Topic : EDUCATION FOR ALL
we tried to emphasize the links between education and other global issues, such as health and poverty. we had discussions based around barriers to education, gender & education, and how we can ensure equal access to education.
Sophie & Karina
Topic : RUBBISH
this was more practical, we got Dewan Kebersihan & Pertamanan (the local cleanliness & parks council), Korps Kota Padang youth organization, and Global Xchange volunteers to do a clean-up of the beach. rubbish is a big problem in Padang. the aim was to raise awarness of this problem for local people and there was TV and newspaper reporting of the event. the rest of the GCD looked at problems caused by rubbish disposal methods, and possible solutions.
Malcolm & Isaac
Topic : CORRUPTION
talk about the methods of corruption we faced in our daily life and try to get the ideas to fight the corruption, inspired by the story of many NGOs.
Guest Speaker : Ferry Anshary (lawyer, activist)
Stuart & Fauzan
Topic : DISABILITY
we will explore the situation faced by those who have a disability in Indonesia. we will look at issues, such as education, perception, role in society, access to public places, support from government, etc.
Jen & Uus
Topic : GOVERNMENT
about decision making in both UK and Padang and inform about the political condition in both countries and also try to find out what are the problems of them.
Hannah & Nova
Topic : CHILD POVERTY
Lidya & Helen
Topic : GENDER
about matrilineal and dowry.
Imel & Angharad
Topic : PLASTIC BAG
it could considered as the follow-up of the 3Gs. we will do a discussion and looked into the statistic about the use of plastic bags in the world generally and Indonesia especially. and we also will design a petition for the 3 big stores and franchises in Padang, and a 'say no to plastic bag' campaign leaflet for the people at the shopping areas.
Waine & Hendry
Topic : HIV/AIDS
we choose this topic as Hendry works at PKBI which works with these issues and tries to make people aware in the surrounding area on how to stay safe. we want to use this as our GCD topic because we both know quite a bit about this problem and it will be quite good to see how bad HIV and AIDS is a problem in Indonesia.
THE CADs
or Community Action Day.
A larger-scale community project. Done together by the team and also involve other people. Often a local organization will approach the team and ask them to participate in a CAD.
UK phase
First CAD :
Multicultural Art Day
April 10, 2008-Civic Centre, Harlow
Our very first CAD, show us how diverse Harlow is. There's a lot of cultural exhibitions; Huihui (Native American Arts), Tribal Face Painting, Origami Flowers from Chinese Centre, Patacc Adinkra Printing, and off course, GX's Indonesian Arts. There's also performances by Efua Sey Cultural Academy's African dance & drum, and Chinese dance & music. We are the part of the diversed community now!
Second CAD :
Allotment
May 10, 2008-Street2Homes, Harlow
We plants potatoes in the empty allotment belong to Street2Homes, one of the GX team 70 volunteer placements. We also cutting the wild grass and makes the allotment looks nice for the first time in the last few years.
Third CAD :
Tree Planting
May 31, 3008-Treehouse Children Centre, Harlow
We plants trees with children from Treehouse, one of the GX team 70 volunteer placements. It was very fun, the kids was very excited and get a certificate for their tree planting. We also named each tree with cartoon's characters.
Fourth CAD :
Multicultural Art Day
May 31, 2008-Meadows Children Centre, Harlow
So, we've done 2 CADs in one day. After we've finished our treeplanting, we went to Malcolm & Lidya's work place. It was very fun in the Civic Centre, so we creates our own multicultural art day. There was the African dance & drum and face painting as well, only this time, most of our guests are kids.
Indonesia phase
First CAD
Anti-Drugs Campaign
June 29, 2008-The City Health Department, Padang
We've handing 500 flowers and hundreds stickers to cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, and especially, angkots (public cars), with people from the Health Department, Forum Kota Sehat (Health City Forum), and students from Korps Kota Padang. It was great, although it was began with most of GX team 70 volunteers almost passed out standing for 3 hours under the 7-10 a.m. sun, to listen to 5 or 6 people's speeches, approximate time 30 minutes each. But seeing the stickers sticking on the angkot's door is a pleasure though.
Second CAD
Padangku Bersih Abis Campaign
July 29, 2008-The Cleanliness and Park Department, Padang
It'a a pretty big clean-up event, part of agovernment programme 'Padangku Bersih Abis' (myPadang is damn clean). With about 200peoplefrom the government, Departemen Kebersihan dan Pertamanan (Cleanliness and Park Department), Forum Kota Sehat (Healthy City Forum), Transportation Department, students, police, and off course Global Xchange volunteers participated, we're all divided into 2 tasks; first, want to shops and reminded the owner to keep the shop clean andto having a bin in the shop, and second, went to Sudirman street to sticking campaign stickers to private cars, angkots and busus. The last task are GX's. It's quite similar withwhat we've done in theanti-drugs campaign, butthis time we've got a bonus, a GX convoy withan open truck went around Padang city centre and China Town for about 30minutes!
Third CAD
Padang Fair
August 7-August 17, 2008-GOR Agus Salim, Padang
It's a big event held by the city of Padang government, officialy opened by the minister of trading, Mari Elka Pangestu, and the mayor of Padang, Fauzi Bahar, exhibited lots kind of thing, such as big companies promoting their product, towns or districts promoting their culture and potential, universities promoting their faculty, and GX promoting and encouraging peole to become a volunteer in PAdang. yeah, we want our work to be continued after we've finished this programme, so we've looking for our 'next generation'. it went very well, and many people come to our stall (the number is 3 times of average of other stalls), eventhough we've just done a very quick and simple preparation, with minimum budget -even the stall is an aid from Universitas Andalas, Padang-, but it worthed, because a lot of people, young and old, single and married, man and woman, interested and registered themselves to become a volunteer n our work placements.
Fourth CAD
School Visit
August 25, 2008-CAD SMA PGRI 6, Padang
SMA PGRI 6 is a school who recruits the children from the street, educates them, and most of times, let them pay after the made their own money. Established 1985, they’ve never had the exact donateur, and they’ve never had guess coming. So, it’s GX volunteer’s privilege to be the first in their history.
2 of the school teacher came to our stall in Padang Fair and told us about their school. They’ve also invited us to come to their stall which is outside the air-conditioned main building and they are the only school opened a stall in the fair. The purpose is to promote their business curriculum thay’ve just created. And they invited us to come to their school to motivate the student, and we did it the next week. We went around the classes, given the performance (poem and music) by the student and the alumnies, and we’ve talked about how things are possible if you want to just try.
Fifth CAD
Fundraising for an Orphanage
August 30, 2008-Universitas Andalas, Padang
We’ve sabotage the Universitas Andalas’ new students event for about 15 minutes to tell them a story and show the photos of Bundo Saiyo orphanage, one of the orphanage related to one of GX placement, PKPU. This orphanage needs about 5 million rupiah each month to run the house and to feed the 18 orphans, and also they need money to continued the built of their new building for the orphanage, because the current house is not proper for living, and isn’t big enough as the 8 boys have to sleep in a room in the mosque next to the house. From about 4000 new students in the Universitas Andalas’ auditorium, GX volunteers, who’s get not a little help from AIESEC’s member, managed to collected 3.709.000 rupiah!
THE MPRs
or Mid-Phase Review.
the whole team leave the host community for a weekend-long, at the half ay stage of each phase of the programme, to celebrate the achievements of your exchange so far, and also to look at the challenges and opportunities ahead.
UK phase
We’ve done the UK phase MPR in Oxford. We’ve stayed at the YHA, was very nice although the room is a bit smell. We’ve done sessions about what achievement we’ve had in the first half of the UK phase and what achievement we want to get in the next half. We’ve also went around Oxford in the free time, to the museum, colleges, and also enjoying classical music at the Saturday night –was unforgettable, as there’s an old lady collapsed in the middle of the playing, thanks God she’s fine-.Indonesia phase
We've had the MPR in Payakumbuh, it's about 3 hours fromPadang. It's a heaven for UK volunteers becauseit's very cold.We've stayed at a cottage, Echo Lembah Harau, very beautiful place, surrounding by canyons and waterfalls. After theactivities, we went to the waterfall for swimming at friday and made a campfire plus barbeque at saturday night.On the way home at Sunday, we've passed through Bukittinggi, another town which is very famous for 'the Bukittinggi Big Ben' and theplace of birth of the first vice president of Indonesia, for a few hours, townet shopping and photo hunting.
THE DEBRIEFs
a few days to evaluate how the first 3 months has gone and to look at what you need to do to get the most out of the rest of the programme. At the end of the 6 months, there is a final debrief to help the team evaluate the experience the team have gone through, prepare for the returning home and help to talk about experiences.
UK phase
June 9-11, 2008-Rainbow Services, HArlow & Ace Hotel, Kensington, London.
We’ve done the debrief for 2 days; 1 day in Harlow, to evaluated the UK phase, and 1 day in London, to looked forward for Indonesian phase. we’ve done the reflection sessions in Harlow, some of them are just for fun; the GX team 70 award and quizzes, and preparation sessions in London; Indonesian lesson, health and safety, etc. lots of fun; we’ve eaten in a Chinese restaurant, whose the manager are very nice, and in the Indonesian Embassy office in the next day. it was more like we’re having our last great time in the UK before we flew over to Indonesia in a few hours later
Indonesia phase
September 3-4, 2008-Sendik BRI & Hotel Ambacang, Padang.
Started with 'making Stuart', so our lovely member who have left this programme earlier wouldn't missed our lovely debrief, and then, sessions such as Impact, Next Step, blabla....are held in 3 days of the debrief, in Sentra Pendidikan (Training Centre) BRI, Hotel Ambacang, and Air Manis beach.
THE SOCIAL TIMES
- Bowling
April 5, 2008-First Bowl, Harlow
the very first social activity after we went to our host homes. we've divided into 3 groups and most of the winners from each
group not even have played bowling before!
- Karaoke
April 18, 2008-The Star, Bishop's Stortford
it's Isaac's birthday and we went karaoke to celebrate. it was very fun, although there's one little accident had happened to Uus, who have not allowed to enter the pub because the bodyguard thought that she was under 18, and unfortunatelly, she forgot to bring her passport or any ID to proves her age".
- Watch Chelsea v Liverpool
April 30, 2008-The Boar's Head, Bishop's Stortford
our group has divided into Chelsea and Liverpool's supporters. was very very fun, eventhough there are several 'interferences', such as Lindsay who have keep asking where is Ballack, Jen who has been confused which colour is which, etc.
- London Adventure
May 17, 2008-London-off course!
the whole group, minus Helen who have to went home for the funeral of her uncle, went to London to see the famouses. our route: St. Pauls-Tower Bridge-Tower of London-Big Ben-Westminster-London Eye-Downing Street-Trafalgar Square-Buckingham Palace-Covent Garden.
- Stu and Imel's joint birthday celebration
July 6, 2008-Pizza Hut and Grande Resto, Karaoke & Billiard
we have planned to celebrate Imel (June 30) and Stu's (July 4) birthday going to Sikuai island by rental boat, but it's been cancelled because it was considered to be dangerous. so we went to had lunch together and do karaoke, with the birthday boy and girl sang 'Mmmbop' by Hanson. a poor plan B?
- Trekking
July 12, 2008-Bukit Gado-Gado
a very tough journey. we gathered at the post office in the morning and walked into the China town area. then we start to trek the hill and has finished the journey at Air Manis beach. very tired and it was raining when we arrived at the beach, but it was payed-off by experiencing a very thick rainforrest and a beautiful beach, with warm water and sand.
- Judith birthday celebration
August 3, 2008-Pizza Hut
as usual, the sacred place of GX volunteers who has difficulties to poo, Pizza Hut! This our favourite place, because of the most beautiful toilet in the whole Padang, and because of the food which is not rice, is become the venue for Judith’s birthday celebration.
- The Beach
August 4, 2008-Pantai Air Manis
we took a day-off from our placements beacuse we.ve done the GCD at the last wednesday, which is a public holiday, and we went to Air Manis beach. we took the very long and winding road (it is really mean winding!); waiting for the angkot, which is very rare and once we've found it, it's need to be fixed and we have to wait for another 45 minutes. and then, 45 minutes long journey to get to the beach, plus 30 minutes walk to get a private area in another side of the beach. privacy, coconut, and a beautiful sea, it's a very nice day-off!
- Lidya's birthday celebration
August 9, 2008-Gian Cafe
we went to Gian Café, one of the café GX volunteers usually go, to celebrate Lidya’s birthday. Some of us were went there straightly from Padang Fair, so with the smell bodies and tired faces we went to the café to meet Lidya’s host family who’s very kind to held this party to their temporary children. But the tiredness paid-off, especially with the delicious foods and the GX volunteer’s favourite activity which is quite random, karaoke.- Phil's surprise birthday celebration
August 13, 2008-Kantor Camat Pauh
it’s in the day after and it was Helen and Lidya’s GCD. Before the GCD started, we’ve managed to surprised him with the sudden singing of Happy Birthday, the present and the card. And then, the audience ask him for a demonstration with his pinky present, the 87th of his favourite gadget collection.
And then, in the end of the day, Ilsa came out from another room with a cake, and, poor Phil, very innocently he was surprised, again!
- Fauzan's birthday celebration
August 16, 2008-Gandoria beach, Pariaman
Fauzan took us out from Padang for his birthday celebration, and we took a train for 2 hours to Pariaman, a small town outside Padang, and stop at the station which is exactly outside Gandoria beach. We’ve spend the whole day in the beach and been doing the regular things that usually people do in a beach : playing UNO, posing for cameras, and hid someone’s flip-flop.
Others
Bahasa Lesson
For the preparation before gone to Indonesia, the team has agreed to do Bahasa lesson every wednesday after the GCD. Different work counterpart pair each week have to prepare the material to teach the UK volunteers. It was still continued until now when we've already lived in Indonesia. But the lesson in Indonesia is more about revision and practical phrases.
African Dance and Drum
Sophie, Karina, Hannah and Nova's host parents are the owners and teachers of Efua Sey Cultural Academy. So, they gave us a special discount for a class to learned the dancing and drumming every thursday. Some of us even done the performance at some events, such as in the multicultural art day and the community farewell, and also got the certificate for that.
Self-Defense
Every monday, Hannah and Hendry's placement, YMCA, held a self-defense coaching for some staffs and GX volunteers. The coach, Francis, teach us how to face the unexpecting danger. It was very fun, and, because sometimes we're all very excited, it was hurts...
Joint GCD
All the Global Xchange team who’s doing the programme in March-September period has gathered in London, in the middle of each team’s phase transition. 7 exchange teams; Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Syria, Egypt, Philippine, and Indonesia has given a presentation each, and then divided into 7 big discussion groups. brainstorming with volunteers from other exchanges, meeting people from 7 different countries and had a big lunch together at the VSO office is a very good experiences.
THE COMMUNITY FAREWELL
UK phase
June 6, 2008-St. Mary Latton Church Hall, Harlow
Was very fun and sad in the same time. We have to had fun with people that very important in our last 3 months lives, for the last time. And also, it has happened in our last day in our placement, where we've had our placement's farewell earlier. God, gives us a break!
Same as the welcome, we've had speeches from GX, the host homes, and the volunteer placement's representatives. And we've had nasi goreng(fried rice, our food icon for the last 3 months) that we've cooked ourselves for dinner. And there's also the entertainments; GX team performs the African dance, sang So Long, Farewell and I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, and the disco (but this time without the DJ).
Indonesia phase
September 6, 2008-Hotel Ambacang, Padang
Dinner tables, presentations, and speeches. this was the second sadiest day in GX team 70's history and those 3 things was definitely not the best memory to built in our mind.
Just remember about the on-the-spot fundraising and the money giving to Ibu Syamsi from Bundo Saiyo orphanage, and her inability to stop crying and smiling in the same time. It will makes us feel better, and that we're still having an impact for the community until the very end of the programme.
And, also, just remember, FRIENDSHIP IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN IMAGINATION AND KNOWLEDGE.
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