Provide better access to healthcare for a community with unique culture in Makassar, Indonesia!
This volunteer program is especially suitable for:
Join a vast network of specialized doctors and dedicated medical staff on disaster management and disaster relief efforts in the rural area of South Sulawesi. Run by the Faculty of Medicine at Hasanuddin University, this program allows you the opportunity to directly contribute to the local people’s health and well-being, and to undergo an insightful learning experience on global health.
This program offers you a chance to promote and provide access to healthcare to an underserved community in a unique culture. As a volunteer, you will be providing basic medical screenings, as well as raising the public awareness on the importance of good health and hygiene through trainings and workshops.
With a small population of 500, you will have an unforgettable joining and becoming an honorary member of such a tight-knit community. This allows you to learn the local culture straight from the source, and experience it in your daily lives through traditions that they do.
Welcome to your project! On arrival, you will be picked up by a local staff/volunteer and taken to your accommodation to rest. You must have had a long journey, and you're best prepared for the orientation the next day!
You will undergo an orientation on your intercultural experience ahead. The orientation includes introduction of organization, intercultural learning and cross cultural orientation, managing hopes and concerns, basic Bahasa Indonesia, rules and regulations, and emergency procedures. You will also be briefed about your volunteering project by the project staff. At the end of the day, you will depart to your project location and meet your host family.
On your first day, there will be an induction, and then the volunteering activities will commence. You will be acquainted with how the organization works, and the tasks you have to handle as a volunteer. With Hasanuddin University's Faculty of Medicine, you observe various wards in the local hospital, and visit local villages to conduct general medical check-up and workshops about health and hygiene.
During your free time and weekends, you are free to explore the area and experience the local culture as you wish!
On a monthly basis, you will have a 1 to 2-hour session with fellow volunteers and staff to discuss your experience so far, and how to move forward with your current situation.
Before your departure home, you will have an end-of-stay orientation to reflect on your experiences and how it affects your perspective.
The project location is in the same island as the idyllic Tana Toraja, where you can bask in the miles of rolling fields with stilted traditional houses towering over you. This area is particularly known for its hauntingly beautiful attractions relating to their death traditions. Find out why funeral ceremonies could take years to prepare, visit burial caverns where skulls and effigies are stored in the shelves, and witness the ceremonial cleaning of corpses and see locals parade their deceased loved ones around the village!