David and Christine Cloughey, Indonesia

26 September 2011

Returned Volunteers David and Christine Cloughley share their experience working with an NGO in Bali, Indonesia, and recount that the relationships they formed continue long after their volunteer assignment ended.

Left: Returned volunteers David and Christine Cloughley with Made (Secretary) & Smudge (Director) of Yayasan Peduli Munti Gunung (YPMG), in Bali. Photo courtesy David and Christine Cloughley.

Dave and Christine Cloughley worked at Yayasan Peduli Munti Gunung (YPMG), a non-profit, independent NGO assisting the people of the villages of the Munti Gunung area (eastern slopes of Mount Batur on the north eastern side of the island) in Bali in 2009/10.

Their assignments with YPMG were to assist the director of the organisation, Barrie Smith, aka 'Smudge', who was a retired British prison officer, and who had lived in Bali since 2002, in the setting up of the Yayasan Peduli Munti Gunung foundation.

Due to Dave's previous experience in management, his position with the organisation was as a management mentor. Dave was tasked to assist the director and board through management structures and procedures.

Christine, who is a qualified accountant, took on the position of financial mentor to assist the director, secretary and treasurer to ensure that all accounting procedures and practices were transparent.

Although their positions seemed clear-cut and well structured, they were by no means that way in reality.

In fact for the first two weeks of their assignments, Dave and Chris spent time entertaining 25 underprivileged children from the Mountain.

Smudge had decided to bring the children to visit some of Bali’s attractions and to visit the beach - all activities were sponsored by either Smudge or by overseas sponsors who had kindly donated the money.

One trip, to the Bali Bird Park, was very memorable for Dave and Chris. The kids were treated to a visit to the 3D theatre within the Bird Park and as they had all come from high on the mountain, they had never seen movies before at a theatre let alone movies in 3D. It was such a joy to watch them all going in and out of the theatre several times to see the movie over and over again.

After the excitement of their two weeks induction to the “Munti Kids” it was time for Dave and Chris to get into some real work. During their time with Yayasan Peduli they had successes in many areas, including obtaining overseas funding for the renovating of some houses on the mountain, obtaining funding to assist with running the local kindergarten, and partnering one of the Bali hotels on a project to sponsor one of the schools on the mountain.

Throughout their assignments, Dave and Chris really enjoyed working with the people from the Yayasan Peduli Munti Gunung organisation.

Rregular visits to the people of Munti Gunung and these trips to the mountain will always be remembered, and counted among the highlights of their time in Bali.

Dave and Chris found their experience as volunteers in Bali an excellent, life-changing experience.

They felt that they built up a great relationship with the Director, Secretary, Board Members and other local volunteers who were involved in the foundation, and by the time it came to leave, they felt they could have stayed on longer.

Their relationship with YPMG and the people of Munti Gunung continues today by keeping in regular contact with Smudge and his assistant Made by email and on Skype as well as continuing to do volunteer work for the foundation, such as putting YPMG’s regular newsletter together and assisting with any management or accounting queries.

Dave and Chris also have such confidence in the School Sponsorship Program run by YPMG that they too sponsor a 16 year old girl “Suryani’ from Munti Gunung through her final years of schooling in order that she can continue her hope of realising her ambition to be a teacher.