Alumni Spotlight: Grace Tamble

Grace Tamble is from Fresno, California and currently attends DePaul University in Chicago, IL where she studies international relations with a concentration in sustainable development. Grace enjoys reading good books, attempting to cook, cuddling with her kitten and, of course, traveling to new places.

Grace's classroom wall in Indonesia

Morning: Each morning at the IHF center in Medan was slightly different, however, usually I woke up around 9 AM. I volunteered during the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan, so I often awoke the the soothing prayers coming from the nearby mosque, which I really came to enjoy during my stay. After I awoke all the volunteers would have breakfast which usually consisted of tea, toast, peanut butter and some type of fruit.

After breakfast I would get ready for the day and do laundry if needed. Then I would begin preparing for that day’s lesson plans. Preparing lesson plans was a bit challenging when I first began volunteering but as time went on it was increasingly easier to come up with the day’s activities.

Afternoon: The afternoons mainly consisted of teaching English classes. Normally on Monday and Wednesday myself and another volunteer would teach three classes together: first grade, sixth grade, and junior high schoolers. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we taught the fourth grade class and the senior high schoolers. Each lesson lasted for one hour, and the time really goes by fast.

The lessons varied greatly from day to day. Most lessons began with a vocabulary review, then moved on to either grammar or conversation and finished with an educational game. The first grade class loved to sings lots of songs and make drawings. There was a lot of freedom when creating the lesson plans, so some times we got creative in our activities. One day the students practiced English language skits and then gave an impromptu performance at the end of the hour for all the staff. After teaching the lessons we would go to a nearby restaurant for lunch, normally fried chicken and rice.

Evening: Evenings were usually fairly quiet at the center. I was told that normally the classes are held during the evening hours, yet because of Ramadhan the schedule was shifted around. After teaching lessons during the afternoon I would take a small rest in my room, shower and have a snack. After cleaning up, the volunteers usually did independent work on their computers, such as the 25 postings that are required each week during your time volunteering, or work for your assigned campaign team. I was on the grant writing team so I spent some time researching potential grants and beginning the application process. This was also a great time to contact friends and family from home. Around 8 PM all the volunteers would walk down the street to have dinner at a restaurant. Dinner was usually nasi goreng (fried rice) or some type of noodle. Often we would see our students hanging out in the neighborhood and would chat with them during and after dinner. Then we would head back and go to sleep around 10 or 11 PM.

Grace teaching in Indonesia

Highlights: The highlight of my time at the IHF center was one of the last days I was there. The center put on a celebration for the end of Ramadhan and invited all the students to the center for a break-fast in the evening. All day was spent preparing special foods and drinks for the occasion and I loved being a part of the festivities. When the students arrived for the celebration, everyone sat in a circle and shared the meal together.

It was really special to be a part of this tradition and I felt like I was truly a part of the IHF community. Another favorite time was during one of the weekends when we were able to travel outside of the center a bit, to the nearby area of Lake Toba. Lake Toba is definitely a must-see if traveling to Sumatra.