Ika Fitriyana Kusumaningrum is doing work experience at the Times Newspaper and writes about the group’s experience...

We love it here – wish we could stay longer!

My group of 18 AIYEP exchanges from Indonesia, staying in Shoalhaven, truly love the warm friendship and caring consideration of our host families and work experience providers and the kind welcomes we have received from the local community.

And we also love the scenery – so different from our homes in the different provinces of Indonesia.

We are spread, happily so, in Ulladulla, Nowra, Burrill Lake and Milton in homestays and work placements.

Our delightful host families – headed by our “mums” and dads” – have made us feel very comfortable and relaxed and have not simply treated as tourists – although we have really enjoyed our sightseeing! – but as members of the family.

We owe them our big thanks and hugs.

Our work providers also have given us much of their time and help.

They have added value to our learning experiences and skills development.

We are very mindful of the work ethic of Australians and the importance of regional development to Australia’s future.

In my case and that of my fellow participant, Daus, we have been very fortunate to have our placement with the Ulladulla Times and engage so well with the team here.

Daus and I have benefited much from the direction and guidance of John Hanscombe and colleagues.

It’s been a wonderful journey, a life shaping experience, for my group.

All of us have never travelled to Australia before.

This opportunity has been made possible by our participation in the Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP) 2015/16.

This fantastic program is funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Australia-Indonesia Institute and the aid program, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Indonesia.

The Australian Coordinator is TCN (The Communications Network).

AIYEP, run annually, is designed to provide wider opportunities for young people from Indonesia and Australia to appreciate the culture, development and way of life of each other’s country and build groups of young and potentially influential people in both Australia and Indonesia who have knowledge and personal experience of the two countries and who can develop close and enduring links with each other.

Next year AIYEP will celebrate its 35th anniversary – a real milestone in the growth of our people to people ties.

The program’s alumni – many now in positions of high influence – will clamour to be part of the celebration.

My group, aged 21-25, comprising nine males, nine females, will have spent two months in Australia by the time we return to Indonesia.

During our stay, starting in Canberra, we have been invited into homestays, felt privileged to enter the Australian workplace, given weekly cultural performances to schools, many of which teach Indonesian, and have revelled in extra-curricular social activities with our hosts and the new friends we have met.

When we first heard that Shoalhaven would be our destination after Canberra, we could not help but sing Nicki Minaj’s song, Starships - “Let’s go to the beach, beach! Let's go get a wave!”

We were very excited with the coastal views, the beach itself here and to feel the glorious sunshine after spending a chilly time in Canberra.

It’s a different experience here than Canberra.

In Shoalhaven we do not live or work together in one town.

We reside in several locations and are asked to do different things with lots of socialising.

This has given us more insights into Australian life and what it means to be “from the country”.

For a start, country hospitality is great!

Prior to coming to Shoalhaven stay, the group enjoyed a short holiday break at Bungalow Park Big 4 Holiday Park in Burrill Lake.

The concept of living in a caravan was new to us and at first we thought it would be interesting to try, but 18 people inside one caravan was never going to work so we stayed in the bungalows.

The next thing we noticed was how cold the water was! In Indonesia, the water is usually around 28 degrees.

When we went swimming, kayaking and surfing we thought we might actually freeze, but we didn’t and it was definitely worth it because the beach at Narrawallee and the pool at the Big 4 were much enjoyed.

The Milton-Ulladulla Bowls Club gave us our first taste of lawn bowls and bingo.

Surprisingly some of us won at bingo several times!! We also had a surfing lesson at Narrawallee Beach with Walking on Water and kayaking at Burrill Lake with Total Eco Adventures – both were great fun and there was lots of ‘ooh and ah’ and giggling every time we fell off the surf board. Mollymook Bus Charter provided our transportation.

In the three weeks of our stay we have each Monday presented cultural performances at Vincentia High School, Huskisson Primary School, Nowra Primary School, and Nowra High School.

The responses were amazing; we still cannot forget the keen enthusiasm shown by the children.

We were also favoured to have Honourable Ann Sudmalis, MP come to meet us at our performance at Huskisson Public School.

She was very impressed by what she saw. And it was very rewarding for us to hear one of the Indonesian teachers at Vincentia High School, Ms Kerri Edwards, say …“we want you to come back again.”   

Our work placements run from every Tuesday to Friday.

We have internships at different places such as schools, newspaper agency, local shop, the water treatment depot, dairy farm, and even Funland.

Yandhi, from the province of South Kalimantan, told me: “I have been lucky to have work experiences at three different places”.

“My first week was at a dairy farm, and my supervisor who is also my house mum, taught me how to be an eco-friendly farmer, and that’s important knowledge for Indonesia.”

In one respect we are all looking forward to giving a cultural performance at our farewell function at the Civic Centre Ulladulla on December 3 at 6pm.

​It’s an occasion for us to express our gratitude to the people of Shoalhaven and particularly our host families.

But sadly this function marks our pending departure.

We return to Canberra on December 5 to join our Australian counterpart group in orientation training in preparation for a similarly structured stay of two months in the host province of West Kalimantan.

We are very excited to finally meet up with the Aussies, however it will be hard for us to leave – there’ll be plenty of tears and hugs.

We will retain very fond memories.

We definitely want to come back!