Chiara on Her 2 Months Voluntary Work Supporting NGO school in Kerobokan, Bali

After finishing her study couple of months ago, Chiara’s biggest dream is to work in a NGO abroad. Read about Chiara’s voluntary work report and impression and get inspired.

In the first school, my schedule required me to help teachers in several classes and in several ways, from taking scores to conducting classes. While, in the NGO school, my role was to provide the students a very basic English knowledge, in such a way as to make them able to answer simple questions or to identify the name of objects name. I am glad that both teachers and students always made me feel appreciated, extremely useful and, I would say, loved. Saying goodbye to all of them a week ago was hence one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done.

On the weekends I was left time to explore Bali and the local culture. I am happy to say that I have found some really good friends in the volunteers I spent time with and that was absolutely amazing to travel with them.

I’ve managed to experience a lot of different sides of this amazing island, and I’ve learned something about myself as well. In just a bit more than two months I swam with mantas and turtles, I saw some of the best sunsets of my life, went to two traditional Balinese weddings, tried the infamous durian, learned a bit of Bahasa and ate a lot of rice. And all of this was simply everyday life in Bali. The experience in school made me punctual and flexible at the same time, patient as well as diligent. I learned to face every situation with a smile, to solve problems promptly and also to enjoy relaxing.

Probably one of the many things that left me more amazed in these two months has been the people, expression of a culture which is obviously different from mine. Balinese people are always happy and willing to help, even if you’re not asking for it, if they don’t know you or if they don’t speak your language. It is something that at the beginning left me a bit crowded, but that then I truly appreciated. I can’t count how many invitations for lunches or dinners I’ve received :)

Also, I think that meeting and talking with Balinese people made my time here even more interesting, since they were always pleased to share some insights of their fascinating culture.

For me it’s really very hard, if not impossible to find something negative to say about this experience: oddly, I also loved to drive my scooter in the notorious Balinese traffic and I already know that I’ll miss it. I’ll miss the friends that I found here, the schools, the children and teachers, the sunsets at the beach and the super spicy food.

Considering all of this, even if I’ll be back in Italy in a few days, I’m absolutely sure that I’m coming back soon to Bali, where I left a piece of my heart.