- Student
- 14/02/2020
And how are things on Lombok?
Since I am a stubborn person and did not want to go on exchange, I approached my mentor Henny Romijn. With her connections all over the world, I had many possibilities to do an internship in a developing country. I’m following the Global Sustainability track of the study Innovation Sciences, so an internship focused on improving the economy in a developing country (using technology) was very applicable. I chose the VLOK foundation and after a few meetings, the adventure on Lombok could begin!
VLOK is a foundation that does a lot of beautiful work in different regions on Lombok. They focus on infrastructure, healthcare and education. With this they hope to increase economic independence. In my time on Lombok I will see if I can help VLOK to boost its independency, so they are less dependent on all the donations from the Netherlands. VLOK already has a small expertise in solar panels and this is a good potential business to increase the independence of VLOK. During qualitative research in Ijobalit where VLOK donated several solar panels, the reactions were heartwarming, they were so happy with the donations from VLOK! Access to energy has given people in the rural environment more comfort, children can study longer and they could even extend the opening times of small markets, generating a higher income. These are effects that are often mentioned in literature, but now, I heard it myself, how cool!
I didn't really have a culture shock coming here. In the village where I am staying most people live in stone houses, in the poorest part of the village they live in bamboo huts, but with the biggest smile of all. However, when I went to Canggu for a small trip, there is where I had a culture shock! So many tourists and nothing left of traditional Indonesia...
Sampai Jumpa is an expression that reveals the true Indonesian culture, it means "See you when I see you". Nothing is planned, an appointment a week in advance? Are you crazy... You just walk into the house if you need someone, chance is big that they will be there. But this is also the beauty of the country, do you want to arrange something? Then it will be arranged for you in no time, awesome!
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