My Indonesia experience

I attended community based sanitation in urban areas in Indonesia from 2nd of February to 10th of February 2015. I really enjoyed my time there and learned so many things from that experience. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life.

While I was in there I was not only involved in learning community sanitation but I was involved in learning Indonesian culture, Indonesian food and Indonesian food as well.

I communicated with locals and students of ITS about the problems they are facing and found out the negative impacts of poor sanitation in their daily life. Also, we were invited by the Surabaya City mayor for dinner and I found out how government is helping to improve the sanitation facilities and how local leaders are involved to improve the life of Indonesian People. On our site visits, we went to different communities and found their lifestyles as well. Also, we learned to make Tempe which is traditional Indonesian food. We learned bhasa Indonesia as well. Now I can understand simple words. Moreover, we went to different schools and learned to play traditional Indonesia music and songs. I made so many amazing friends from Indonesia and around the world. We also got opportunities to explore the natural beauties of Indonesia for example Bromo Mountain and many rivers.

I gave my presentation about sanitation condition of Nepal as compared to Indonesia and analysed the similar problems these countries are facing in terms of sanitation behavior. Also I talked about University of Technology and the services and the facilities offered by UTS. So, most of the students were really interested to study in UTS as well.

I told them about my wonderful experience in UTS and I recommended UTS for them if they wish to come here in Australia for study. Also I am working as UPASS leader in UTS and I explained them about this wonderful program which helps students to interact socially and form friendships with other students in an informal, collaborative environment.

The biggest challenge for me was to interact freely and effectively with other people. I actively involved myself in as many group activities as possible without any hesitation. The scheduled group discussion sessions were a platform for me to communicate to other students.

This program will be very beneficial for my future career. This gave me opportunity to immerse myself in another language and developed my skills in a foreign study environment. It gave me experience what it is like to live and learn in another country. I have huge interest in studying water behavior, sanitation and our environment. This gave me more confidence in studying these areas because I was directly involved with these communities in urban areas. In addition to this, I learned we can improve people’s lives if we have good team and determination even we have limited resources.Apart from that I have developed my communication skills and leadership skills which will be very useful for Civil engineers. Moreover, it has given me the ability to view the world, and its issues, from several perspectives.

Shankar Prasad Aryal

Global Short Programs Student