22 - 24 October 2008
On Wednesday afternoon we were taken to a rather nice hotel, with hot water, flushing toilets and two swimming pools. Here we had a three day workshop where we met and worked with representatives of our new workplaces. The first evening the table was set out for us to meet our new partners in an 'informal' setting.
Thursday night we all went bowling – the partners were a little apprehensive as they had never bowled but everyone had a great time and it again elped ot break down barriers. Ellen has a bigger English vocabulary than I do Indonesian but her grammar is about on par with mine. All four of us volunteers were complimented on our level of Indonesian – apparently we are more confident than most groups at this stage.
On the last afternoon John and I sat down with Dr Rina and Ellen with Dinnia the VSO programme manager to go over the hospital's expectations of us and to discuss the practicalities of our visit to Rote next week. We rounded off by writting important things on each others backs and posing for a group photograph. The commitment I have made in volunteering is starting to feel real at last.
Dr Rina who is head of support services and Ellen the matron for the wards cam
e from the hospital in Baa. We had to interview each other in Indonesian and then introduce our partner to the rest of the group in Indonesian. There were lots of sessions where we either worked with our partner or the partners and volunteers worked as 2 groups. This was about developing trust, cooperation and understanding. John and Dr Rina one the competative session and received their price from Tjeed another volunteer who facilitated the event. Everything was translated so if an English speaker lead a session it was translated into Bahasa Indonesian and visa versa.
e from the hospital in Baa. We had to interview each other in Indonesian and then introduce our partner to the rest of the group in Indonesian. There were lots of sessions where we either worked with our partner or the partners and volunteers worked as 2 groups. This was about developing trust, cooperation and understanding. John and Dr Rina one the competative session and received their price from Tjeed another volunteer who facilitated the event. Everything was translated so if an English speaker lead a session it was translated into Bahasa Indonesian and visa versa.
Thursday night we all went bowling – the partners were a little apprehensive as they had never bowled but everyone had a great time and it again elped ot break down barriers. Ellen has a bigger English vocabulary than I do Indonesian but her grammar is about on par with mine. All four of us volunteers were complimented on our level of Indonesian – apparently we are more confident than most groups at this stage.
On the last afternoon John and I sat down with Dr Rina and Ellen with Dinnia the VSO programme manager to go over the hospital's expectations of us and to discuss the practicalities of our visit to Rote next week. We rounded off by writting important things on each others backs and posing for a group photograph. The commitment I have made in volunteering is starting to feel real at last.
No comments:
Post a Comment