Tuesday 9 Febraury

One early morning last summer a group of Leeds Met students and staff began a month long volunteering adventure in Indonesia.  After a long journey we arrived at our new home, the Kaliandra Foundation.  Set on the slopes of Mt. Arjuna at the heart of Java, we soon realised how magical the location was and how lucky we were.  This was further compounded when we began to meet the local people and explore the area.  We separated into 3 groups, the English teachers, the construction team and the tourism team, each tasked with different roles and responsibilities.  I was in the construction team and my time was split between working at Kaliandra and working in the local village. We made loads of new friends and learnt some amazing new skills building composite toilets on both sites.

During our stay we sampled some delicious Indonesian delicacies, cultural music and dance presentations and were even invited to a wedding!  After three weeks of hard work, we were all sad to leave.  We had met some really amazing people and made some lifelong friendships and memories that will last a lifetime. We were also excited by our next mini adventure. Next stop Bali!

Matt Dams
Sport Development Student
Carnegie Faculty of Sport & Education

The CPV Team are currently recruiting for the 2010 volunteering projects in Indonesia. If you are interested please visit the volunteering website for more information.