Why did you choose this program?
I‘m an interior designer, so my experience would be helpful with construction and innovation program, and being able to see the progress day after day was motivating for me. There is a huge difference between the culture in Bali and the culture in my own country, for me it is the other side of the world that I wanted to discover and know more about it .
What did your program provider (or university) assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?
Before traveling they send us all the needed info starting from the needed documents to what to do and what not to do which might be considered not okay for the locals, and on arrival they pick you up from the airport, they provide the accommodation in Bali , in a village 20 mins away from Ubud, with 3 meals, transportations from the accommodation to the volunteering site where we work and vice versa, and of course 24/7 support when needed.
What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?
Being open up to working in teams , and arrange your time between the working hours and your free time to be able to discover Bali and try the Balinese cuisine, and of course getting a traditional Balinese massage, the prices there are affordable, and don’t forget Mosquito Repellent spray, and sunscreen.
What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?
We usually have breakfast around 7:30, then go to the construction site at 8:30, have a break around 10:30, get back to work till 1:30, then go back to the accommodation, have lunch, and free to do whatever we want after this , because of the rain sometimes we have to leave the site earlier, the weekend is on Saturday and Sunday so u can plan a short trip to other islands from Friday after work and spend the weekend there.
Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?
My biggest fear was struggling to cope with the people around me as I’m traveling on my own for the 1st time , but it took me around 2 days to be make some new friends, and then we become really close, we used to make plans together to visit places and going to other islands on the weekend, even helping the new volunteers to cope.
Since you didn’t meet any volunteer coming from your country, was that a good experience or it would have been better to find someone who speaks the same language?
Well, at 1st it was a little bit annoying as i was surrounded with groups of people who comes from the same country or speak the same language, it was easier for them to communicate, not finding anyone who speaks or understands Arabic made me feel like i won’t be able to express myself or how i feel as they do BUT by time i found out that this is not an issue, and that i have a lot in common with some people other than speaking the same language , in fact that helped me to get to know more people instead of surrounding myself with people who I thought they would understand me better because of the language.