ACICIS Semester 42 student Rory Brown from University of Queensland has shared his experience studying in Yogyakarta for the ACICIS Indonesian Business, Law and Society (IBLS) program, and his extracurricular activities this semester.
As a part of his studies at Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII), Rory is undertaking an eight-week internship program at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia, a non-governmental organisation that works in advocating rights, accompanying, and serving the 14,000 refugees and asylum seekers who are currently in Indonesia. JRS provides facilities that the refugees would have otherwise received, such as informal education, training, and informal activities. As an intern, Rory main duties include organising and teaching the English classes that run from Monday to Friday, along with organising sports programs such as futsal and volleyball twice a week. He also assists the researches currently conducted by the JRS Research Centre on various refugees and asylum seekers related foci in Indonesia. Rory found his experience interning at JRS to be both enjoyable and beneficial, particularly on two main areas: management and people-to-people skills through running the English and sports programs, as well as analytical and research skills through assisting at the JRS Research Centre.
Despite his busy schedule of juggling between his studies at UII and internship at JRS, Rory also makes time to be the President of the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association (AIYA) Yogyakarta Chapter. Having interest in fostering Australia-Indonesia bilateral relations and having been involved in AIYA Queensland before, Rory found it relevant to continue partaking in AIYA Yogyakarta. Through AIYA Yogyakarta, Rory has organised events such as Pathway to Australia workshops for Australia Awards Scholarship and Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP), trivia nights, Indonesian development seminar, movie nights, and cultural exhibitions. His experience in AIYA has been positive and has given him opportunities to build teamwork, communication, management, and networking skills, particularly in Indonesia.
