About i-to-i What i-to-i trips and TEFL are, how and why we do what we do!
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About i-to-i What i-to-i trips and TEFL are, how and why we do what we do!
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Despite its popularity Bali has refused to become a giant holiday resort or the exclusive territory of blear-eyed stopover passengers hitting the beach before their connecting flight. It retains the picture postcard looks to such an extent that many don’t bother with the personality of the island, but you should. Ancient temples stand as a testament to traditional architectural skill and religious belief while customary dances and ceremonies often invade the streets. Our partner projects on the island works with orphans and disabled people and will use your talents through a variety of methods, including formal learning, conversation classes, games, songs and story-telling.
When you book this trip US$75 of your fee is used to buy chairs and tables, whiteboards or equivalent through our Big Giving programme.
Welcome to Indonesia! Today you will be met at the airport and taken directly to the accommodation which will be your home for the first 2 nights of your stay in Bali. You will have the rest of the day to rest and recover from your journey. If you are feeling adventurous you can head out and start exploring your surroundings!
If you aren’t able to arrange a flight to get you into Denpasar on the specified arrival date we’d recommend you fly in a day early. We can arrange an early airport pick-up for you including one night’s accommodation, please call us for more information.
Today is orientation day. Orientation will take place at the hotel where you’re staying in Bali. All new arrivals will have their orientation together, and this will cover important information such as what it’s going to be like at your project, dos and don’ts, fun things to do in Indonesia, a language lesson and how to stay safe on your trip. This is your prime opportunity to ask any burning questions that you haven’t yet had answered and to meet your fellow volunteers!
This morning you’ll make the journey to your new accommodation, where you’ll stay while volunteering. It’s a 15 minute drive from Ubud to the small village you’ll call home. You’ll have some time to settle into your new home and will also be taken to the project to be introduced to the staff who’ll be your day to day contacts. If there’s time, you might also do some volunteering today.
Now you know your way around you can really get to work! You could be teaching English through a variety of methods, playing games or singing songs, story telling, helping with computer skills or outdoor activities. Be proactive as the more you put into volunteering the more you’ll get out!
You will volunteer 5 days out of 7 and 2 days can be taken off through the week or at a weekend, to give you time to enjoy gorgeous Bali and all it has to offer. The project is flexible regarding this and more work is available if you want to get more involved.
The following weeks will follow a similar pattern of volunteering work and free time to explore and enjoy beautiful Bali. Time will fly by so make the most of every minute in this paradise location!
Having said goodbye to all your new friends, taken your final photos and packed your bag full of souvenirs you’ll travel back to the airport. The return transfer from your home stay to Denpasar airport is not covered within your project fee, but i-to-i staff will be able to make recommendations, the costs will be around US$15 – US$20.
The Yayasan Widya Guna foundation for education was established in 2006 and is responsible for the operation of the WINS programme, where you will be volunteering. WINS stands for ‘orphans in Indonesia to school’ and was started in 2004 by Gil Rijnenberg and Ketut Sadua. Their primary goal is to give the children of Bali the opportunity to obtain an education and to break the cycle of poverty. At the weekend the child care centre also takes in and cares for disabled children.
It is greatly beneficial to the children and members of the project to learn English and other new skills, and to interact with people from a different culture. Volunteers are needed to improve the knowledge of the children in all areas and to expose them to different cultures from around the world.
The WINS project is based in a small, local village approximately 15 minutes drive from Ubud. Ubud is a remarkable town in the middle of the paradise island of Bali, and is surrounded by scenic rice fields, small villages, art and craft communities, ancient temples, palaces and rivers.
This is an ideal project for anyone who loves children and wants to help. As you will also be volunteering with disabled children you should be sensitive to their needs and supportive of their progress. It’s also important to remember that attitudes towards underprivileged and disabled children in Bali will differ to what you’re used to at home.
Although you do not require any special skills or experience, the most important requirement is that you are creative and empathetic. Volunteers must be able to use their initiative, be motivated, flexible, patient, resourceful and imaginative and willing to join in a wide range of activities.
The centre helps around 100 children who have familiy members that they live with, or children from poor families who are sponsored by the Foundation. There are 4 age groups at the centre - 5,6, and 7 years old, 8,9, and 10 years old, 11, 12, and 13 years old and 14, 15 adn 16 years old.
You will volunteer 5 days out of 7, taking 2 days off through the week or at a weekend. The project is flexible as to which days you take off, and more work is available if you want to get more involved. You will volunteer for around 4 hours a day, mainly in the afternoons as the children are at school in the mornings. In the morning you could also help with lessons with some of the children who have Down`s Syndrome. You will need time to prepare your lessons in addition to this, but other than this the work is unscheduled and you can make the best use of your time by getting stuck in with some of your own ideas and projects! On Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 11.00 to 16.00 hrs there are disabled children who come to the centre for therapy who need entertaining while they wait for their treatment. You can get involved with this by helping them to draw and colour, this not only entertains them but it also helps increase their skills and works the muscles of their hands.
You will be teaching English through a variety of methods - formal learning using textbooks, conversation classes, games, songs and story-telling, trying to make learning as fun as possible. You may also find yourself helping with creative work to improve current skills and teaching new ones, assisting with outings and activities such as swimming and helping with computer skills.
The project is somewhat under resourced so you will need to use your initiative when planning activities with the children! If you’d like to make a donation then things like stickers, craft materials, stationary and books are always welcomed. A lot of these resources can be purchased when you get to Bali, which will have the added bonus of helping the local economy as well as saving space in your luggage!
Books and magazines with English words, flash cards (maybe make your own?) and souvenirs from your home country (flags, postcards, traditional items etc) are a great way to introduce yourself to the people at the project and help them to learn about you and your culture. You may also like to come prepared with some favourite lesson plans and ideas for activities.
Please remember that you will be acting as a role model and should therefore dress appropriately. You should not wear revealing clothes, or t-shirts with slogans that may cause offence. Please dress neatly and with respect for the local culture when in villages and when in the classrooms, by covering your shoulders and keeping skirts and shorts at least knee-length please. During your time off from the project your dress can be more casual, especially in tourist areas where Westerners and their fashions are more frequent visitors.
Please note: there are the Galungan holidays from 06 July 2011, 01 February 2012 and 29 August 2012 in which holidays may last for a week to 10 days. Please note that this holiday is every 210 days and so will be at a different time each year and may affect your time at the project.
Hari Nyepi is the Balinese New Year and occurs on the first new moon in March it is expected to next fall on 23 March 2012. On this day no one leaves the house, there are no lights allowed, no noise, no cars and no planes landing or taking off. This is so the Balinese can enter the New Year with prayer. This day happens around March or April each year so if you’re travelling at this time please be prepared to observe this tradition.
It may seem like a strange concept to pay for your volunteer experience. You'd be right if you think you shouldn't and the truth is you actually don't! Your placement is free; it's the benefits around it that you pay for. It's important to note that i-to-i is a travel company and not a charity. We provide a professional travel service. We are responsible for finding and assessing worthwhile projects across the world, preparing you fora the volunteering experience and supporting you whilst you're there.
Here’s some more information about what your placement fee covers….
We work with hundreds of locally run partner projects around the world and are constantly sourcing new opportunities. We visit all projects to check that they are worthwhile and legitimate and we also conduct a thorough safety assessment before we'll send volunteers there. More
Almost everyone who works for i-to-i has traveled extensively or worked overseas. This means we're a goldmine of information; we're always available to offer support and guidance before, during and after your trip.
Once you book on to a project you'll receive a Welcome Pack that contains loads of general information about volunteering, about your chosen country and how to have fun and stay safe. We'll also give you advice on visas and inoculations.
It can be pretty daunting arriving in a different country for the first time - especially after a long flight! If you arrive on your project start date, there'll be a welcoming face at the airport to pick you up and take you to your accommodation.
Soon after you arrive you will attend a thorough orientation with our in-country team. This is to cover important safety and security information. You'll also get some tips about sight-seeing options for your time off and maybe even learn some of the local lingo!
Accommodation is included with all projects and meals are even included with some. We only use locally-owned and operated accommodation so that part of your placement fee is filtering back into the local economy. Most projects offer homestay, guesthouse or shared volunteer houses as standard accommodation, but some offer the chance to upgrade to a more comfortable living standard. More
Your in-country team will arrange a pick-up for you at the airport and will conduct your orientation upon arrival. All coordination teams are English speaking and are locals of your destination country. They won't be at your project every day, but will be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week if you need them. More
Aside from the local support from your in-country team you'll be given access to a 24/7 emergency phone line manned by our response team in case any problem should arise while you're overseas. We also hire crisis management professionals to be on hand in case of a situation that requires additional expert support. More
The safety and security of our volunteers is paramount. For this reason we provide ongoing crisis management and emergency response training to our local teams around the world. We also fly in our in-country coordinators to the UK regularly for thorough training to help them offer the best safety to the thousands of volunteers they support each year. More
We don't fund our projects directly from the project fee that you pay us. Instead we choose to support a number of projects every year through a grant scheme for tangible long-term initiatives. In the last 3 years we have distributed over US$250,000 to our most needy projects to help them in the great work they do.
We make no secrets of the fact that part of your placement fee is reinvested in to recruiting volunteers just like you! The volunteers recruited in one week will typically deliver over 2000 man-days of service. The difference this makes to projects overseas is immeasurable. Many of our overseas projects rely on assistance from international volunteers, so it's necessary for us to put together brochures and websites to find the people who can support them. This recruitment process is vital to ensure programs have a constant stream of reliable volunteers.
Volunteering through a company like i-to-i has a lot of intangible benefits to developing overseas communities and the individual projects that we work with. To find out more about our placements. click here
We aim to provide you with a safe and soft landing into your destination by picking you up from the airport, giving you an orientation that helps to settle you into the country as quickly as possible. It’s also the best time to ask any questions you have about your time in
Indonesia. Here’s what will happen;
You will arrive on the Arrival Date – Sunday and will be met at the airport on that day. You will be taken to the Panorama Hotel (see contact details below) in Ubud which is about an hours drive away, where you will have the first day/night to recover from your flight. The hotel does have a swimming pool so don`t forget your costume!
Panorama Hotel
JI. Raya Pengosekan
Ubud
Your orientation will take place the next day, Monday, at the Panorama Hotel and will introduce you to life in Indonesia as well as important information about staying healthy and safe.
You will stay at the Panorama Hotel again on the Monday night before transferring to your permanent accommodation on the Tuesday. The transfer will be arranged for you by the team; this will also be the first day that you are introduced to your project and start working as a volunteer.
It's important that you get adequate travel insurance for your i-to-i experience and as many of you will be working this often means standard policies won’t work. The good news is that no matter where your coming from we have already found a policy to suit you.
The best time to get your insurance is when you book your project as this means you can get a fully tailored policy exclusive to i-to-i, just ask your consultant for further details at the time of booking.
EU Customers – find out more here >>
Australian customers - find out more here >>
All other customers - find out more here >>
As with insurance we advise you get these booked as early as possible to avoid high prices and to make sure you arrive on the right day. The i-to-i team is right up to date with the best deals no matter where you’re flying from; their insider knowledge could save you some time and money.
If you are arriving before your designated arrival date, we can arrange for an extra meet and greet service for you. For an extra supplement we will be there to meet you at the airport and take you to your orientation accommodation. One additional night a
The cost of this Early Pick-up service is US$ 90.00
When you arrive into Denpasar airport, you will spend your first 2 nights in a hotel in Ubud where you’ll recover from your flight and settle into life in Bali. The Panorama hotel is air-conditioned and has western style bathrooms with hot water and flushing toilets. There’s also a swimming pool, television, library and games corner, a bar, restaurant and a souvenir shop! Don’t get too used to this luxury as your permanent accommodation will be more basic and authentic Indonesian, but do enjoy relaxing in this beautiful hotel with it’s stunning views of lush green rice paddies, majestic volcanic hills and a spectacular sunset to the west.
The following information relates to the accommodation you will be using for the majority of your stay, while participating in the volunteer project.
You’ll have a private room (although during busy periods you may be sharing with a fellow volunteer) in a homestay accommodation. You will be located in the village centre near to the project, the homestay accommodation will give a true feel of authentic Bali life and are a great way to immerse yourself into the local community.
This is authentic Indonesian living at it’s best, and as such facilities will be more basic than you are used to at home. Bathrooms have a shower and western style toilet, but there is no hot water - bathing in Bali is either with a shower or using a bucket and ladle where water is ladled over the body. It may be possible to boil water to take to the bathroom but the warm weather will mean you really won’t miss a hot shower too much at all!
Your bed will have a mattress and sheet, but you should bring a top sheet or sarong to sleep under.
Both homestays have cooking facilities, a fridge to store your food in, electricity and a communal area where you can eat and relax with your fellow volunteers. There are also laundry facilities for your clothes, which you will need to pay a small fee to use.
Breakfast is included in your fee and is a simple breakfast, usually consisting of tea or coffee with bread, fruit and eggs. You can ask the homestay host to prepare lunch for you too if you like, this will be traditional Indonesian fare and will be at your own expense.
The village is approximately 5km from Ubud, a remarkable town in the middle of the island of Bali, which is surrounded by scenic rice fields, small villages, art and craft communities, ancient temples, palaces and rivers.
You can easily travel to banks, shops, restaurants and other facilities. Ubud is cycling distance away, or you can travel by scooter. This is an idyllic setting and will give you a really authentic feel of Indonesian village life.
The on site accommodation is obviously very close to the project and within easy walking distance. If you are in the village homestay your journey to the project will take 15 minutes by car or motorbike, which our in-country team can help you to arrange locally.
From a bird’s eye view, the Indonesian archipelago could pass for an abstract painting with its glorious mish-mash of land mass interspersed with lashings of ocean. Comprising over 17,000 islands with Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian Jaya the main islands, Indonesia has long been defined by a diverse mix of settlers, explorers and traders who have flocked to its shores attracted by its natural resources and convenient location. Fossils found indicate that Java Man or homo erectus, walked the land nothing short of 500,000 years ago. Around 3,000BC, migrants from South East Asia settled and kingdoms sprang up from the 7th century onwards. The kingpins were the Buddhist Sriwijaya who flourished through strong trade links in Sumatra, but disintegrated into smaller kingdoms by the 12th century. The Buddhist Saliendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties, meanwhile, rose to power in central Java between the 8th and 10th centuries until power shifted to east Java and the Majapahit Kingdom, the last great Hindu kingdom, thrived from the end of the 13th century and succeeded in infiltrating most of the archipelago. They fell from dominance as Islam swept through the country from the 14th century.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to gain control in the early 16th century but were usurped by the Dutch who made colonisation inroads from the 17th century and exerted their influence for around 300 years. The Japanese occupied Indonesia during WW II before independence was achieved in 1945. Achmed Soekarno became president of the new republic and by 1957 had declared martial law and the system that followed was pitted with tension and turbulence. The economy was in a poor state of affairs with the gap widening between rich and poor and the country had alienated itself from much of the western world, while conflict between the army and Soekarno’s communist party PKI grew. An attempted coup threatened to bring down Soekarno and a counter coup led by General Soeharto brought the latter into power by 1966. His New Order programme set to bring about economic reform and progress but was dogged by corruption and authoritarian values. In 1998, Soeharto was forced to resign amid a series of protests and the country was on course for a new democratic system but not without a series of presidential reshuffles.
In recent years, Indonesia has had to contend with economic woes and natural disasters, and is building itself back up from the catastrophic affects of the 2004 Tsunami. Current president Megawati Sukarnoputri has sought to bring stability and economic growth as the country continues to face challenges from separatist guerrillas and the threats of terrorism.
Indonesia is blessed, or cursed depending on your temperature threshold, to hot and humid temperatures year round. The coastal regions are the hottest with temperatures hovering in the low 30ËšsC while inland areas are a few degrees cooler. Its annual weather system is distinguished by a wet season (October to April) and dry season (May to September). The wet season affects certain areas more than others; an umbrella is handy in the mountainous regions of Maluku and Irian Jaya and travelling around can be hindered by rainfall, but the central islands of Bali and Sulawesi are usually afflicted with short sharp periods that rarely threaten travel. Western Indonesia, meanwhile, which encompasses Java and Sumatra isn’t clearly defined by wet and dry seasons since rainfall is common year round. As a safe bet, the May to October is the best time to visit to avoid the worst of the wet weather.
The most congested times to visit are at the end of Ramadan, during the Christmas period, particularly in Bali, as well as mid June to mid July when school children are let loose, and during July and August when plane loads of European tourists kick off their vacations.
In recent years, the country’s airline industry has diversified to accommodate budget tastes and there’s a gaggle of domestic airlines vying for the would-be flyer’s attention. Garuda Indonesia is the national airline and serves the major destinations including Denpasar (Bali), Jayapura and Padang, while other large airlines include Lion Air and Mandala Air; Jakarta is the main flight hub. There’s an abundance of low-cost carriers, namely Adam Air, Air Efata and Batavia Air to name a few. Merpati also offers an extensive network that also serves more off-the beaten track locations, albeit with a less than sparkling reputation for reliability with cancellations an all too common occurrence. The airline industry as a whole has a reputation for overbooking and re-confirmation of flights are essential, as is arriving at the airport a couple of hours before departure; latecomers have been known to be bumped off flights.
Indonesia’s islands are connected by various ferry operators, Pelni being the main company covering an extensive network with its fleet of luxurious passenger ships that include two-bed cabins. The main ports are in Jakarta, Bali, Medan and Batam. Buses, meanwhile, take care of long distance overland travel for the most part. Luxury air-conditioned buses are available and are worth the extra cost, particularly when inevitable traffic jams add a couple of hours onto the journey time; Jakarta to Bali takes around two days depending on traffic. The cheapest buses, known as Ekonomi, are slower than their Express counterparts but it’s not unknown for both types to carry various livestock to liven things up a bit. Java boasts some of the best roads in the country, with Bali and Sumatra also featuring roads of respectable quality. During the wet season, however, some roads get flooded and can be rendered impassable. Car rental is only worthwhile (and relatively safe) if you hire a driver as well since driving on the country’s roads can be a stressful experience. Outside of the major cities, a 4 wheel drive vehicle is needed.
Travel by train is confined to Java and Sumatra, with Java possessing a more extensive and regular network and Jakarta the main departure point; Sumatra’s railway lines are concentrated in the north and south of the island. Air-conditioned trains are available, though comfort does vary between the three classes of trains with first class limited to the main express lines. It’s best to book train tickets a day in advance.
To traverse short distances, there’s a hotch potch of colourful vehicles that chug around the towns and cities. Bajajs (motorised rickshaws), becaks (pedicabs; unavailable in Jakarta), ojeks (motorbike taxis) and dokers (horse-drawn carriages) make up the transport mix. Bemos, small buses, are also available but Jakarta is the only city with an established bus service and double-deckers also operate. Taxis are readily available and the reputable Blue Bird Group operates taxis in Jakarta, Bali and Surabaya. Whichever taxi company comes your way, it’s always best to negotiate a fee before the journey begins.
We work in partnership with hundreds of established projects that are run by local communities. The information on our website comes directly from the projects and we work with them to ensure this information is as accurate as possible. However, due to the very nature of the projects themselves the exact details of what happens on a daily basis can change with little or no notice. If you have travelled with us and have any updates to this information, please let us know.
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