By Rewi Lyall
On Sunday I return to Australia, having completed my thirteen month placement through Australian Volunteers International with local NGO the SATUNAMA Foundation.
It’s been an incredible year, packed with work and travel and good times. I’ve got more new friends than I care to count, and, especially in the past six months, feel like I’m part of a community here. It’s pretty hard to leave.
I’m satisfied that, as far as work is concerned, I’ve achieved the objectives that were set out for me by SATUNAMA. In addition, thanks to their generosity, I was able to assist some friends of mine in Taring Padi to set up a new blog, and to show them how to maintain it. Hopefully this means that their friends in Indonesia and around the world will be able to keep up-to-date with what they’re up to. There’s still some work to do on the blog (so I’ll be working right up until Friday), but it’s up and running.
This year has been chock-a-block. I’ve been to Anak Krakatau and Flores, and a fortnight ago fulfilled an objective to get up to the Dieng Plateau. I’ve DJ’d many times over the past few months, and been a collaborator in an exhibition. I helped out with the Festival Mata Air, and photographed subject matter from temples to Vespas (and, on one lucky occasion, both).
There’s a phrase that gets used by way of thanks for international volunteers that I’m not too fond of: ‘taking a year out from your life’. I don’t like it much because, as far as I’m concerned, this is my life. I hope that makes sense.
Yogyakarta is now like another home town for me, and I had to think about whether or not I’d stay for quite a while. Ultimately, I’m glad to be returning to Australia (not without some trepidation), but I know that when I come back it will be to a community of friends.
So, what’s next? I’m going to Perth for a week of catching up with family and friends, and then on to Sydney where, with any luck, I’ll get a bit of work as a lawyer again while completing a Master of International Law degree at the University of Sydney. That’ll take me up to July. Beyond that, who knows?