Indonesia: Family-friendly Insight Trip

Example Itinerary

Every Insight Trip is a unique experience, from the people you’ll meet to the places you’ll go. Your trip’s itinerary is customised to meet the needs and interests of the final group of travelers, and you will get all the details with time to spare. In the meantime, check out the example itinerary below, based on previous Insight Trips to Indonesia. We hope it gives you a taste of what your Insight Trip will be like!

• Day 1: Depart Sydney, Australia for Bandung, Indonesia

  There’s anticipation in the air as you connect with the group at Sydney Airport, swap stories of wrestling suitcases and say goodbye to your loved ones. Your trip leader meets you in the departures lounge and makes sure you connect with the others in your group

  With plenty of time, you take the chance to stretch your legs, and then get to know the group with a cuppa. Before you know it, you’re buckling your seat belt, checking your travel pillow, and watching Sydney Harbour drop away beneath your feet. You breathe out slowly. You’re off to Indonesia!

  Indonesia might be one of our closest neighbours, but flying there takes some time. It’s almost midnight by the time you get to Bandung. Compassion Indonesia staff greet you and help you load your suitcase into a minibus. This is going to be an adventure.

• Day 2: Compassion Indonesia office, Bandung

  Up early. Local staff are waiting for you after breakfast, and as your bus rumbles and squeaks down the narrow streets, you stare out the window. Palm trees overflow from gardens and walled compounds; white-washed walls and red terracotta tiles rise above the greenery. Street vendors huddle over their fires, grilling chicken skewers and local fish.

  The Compassion Indonesia office is awash with activity, which seems to ripple behind you as each team greets you, shares a laugh and describes its role, and then gets back to the task at hand.

  Compassion Indonesia Director Sarah Jeanin Rahardja greets you with a welcoming smile. Her quiet authority and thoughtful warmth give you great confidence. Her genuine passion for her staff, the Church and the Compassion assisted children is alive in every word she speaks.

• Day 3: A child development centre in Bandung

  All along the streets, vendors sell fruit and char-grilled corn. Traffic hums and buzzes; motorbikes flowing around lines of cars like ants crawling between beetles.

  Your friendly staff translators chat about local history and issues that children in the area face, the primary one being the difficulty of accessing education and healthcare services. Many parents leave their children to fend for themselves while they look for work, meaning attendance at school is low and children spend a lot of time wandering and playing in the streets.

  As you turn down to the visit the local church, the road is barely wide enough to accommodate your bus. The children welcome you with song, dance, drama and speeches. Their talent is only surpassed by their enthusiasm, and it’s easy to forget the desperate circumstances so many of them face outside of these walls.

• Day 4: Church in Bandung / Rest day

  Sunday morning, and you head to church in town. Some of the older students are in the band; you think of your own church back home, with the same enthusiastic drummer and smiling girls singing. The pastor welcomes you and invites your group to share a prayer.

  You share lunch together afterward; local seafood and enormous bowls of rice. The younger children giggle and climb over each other to see the photos you take with your digital camera.

  In the afternoon, you’re content to laze around with a book. It’s been an uplifting but demanding few days. You feel pulled in different directions emotionally and it’s good to sit and rest, and slowly begin to ponder and process the things that God is placing on your heart.

• Day 5: Visit Nanda’s home in Jakarta

  Up very early to get to Jakarta—one of the world’s most populous cities. It’s a few hours’ drive but it gives you a chance to see some of the countryside.

  In the afternoon, you walk with the program staff to visit Nanda, 15, one of the sponsored children, in her home. Built on short stilts and a hodge-podge of wooden planks, iron sheets and plywood, her home looks vulnerable to bad weather. Nanda has a curtained off bedroom and shares a bed with her younger sister. She tells you that her father built the home; he has occasional work as a labourer but it’s unreliable and pays a pittance.

  Nanda’s dream is to go to college and become a journalist. She says she wants to write about her community and bring change for the sake of the children who can’t afford to go to school.

  Back at the hotel that night, in your debrief of the day, you share about Nanda’s dream; her determination; the look on her face when she told you she hadn’t seen her father in seven months. As you go to bed, you say a prayer for her future. If talent and determination were all it took to achieve her dream, she would be fine. But you know there are other pieces to the puzzle, and many of them are outside her control.

• Day 6: A day at the Child Survival Program, Jakarta

  You drive to visit a Child Survival Program just a short walk from the waterfront. Most of the registered mothers work in the markets or come from fishing families. They are gathered in small groups, bouncing their babies on their knees and discussing a Bible passage. Your group spreads out and sits, not wanting to interrupt.

  After prayers, the mothers break and come back to the mats on the floor with you. Lots of smiles and nods—and cuddles!—and then the instructor begins sharing about the importance of a varied diet to give toddlers the nutrition they need. Later, the mothers put the lesson into practice by cooking together, with lots of laughter and exclamations when one of them drops a pot, spilling vegetables across the rough kitchen floor.

  A few share their testimonies of daily life before and after they became involved at the church, with a simplicity that belies their hardship. They emphasise their sense of belonging to the program, the peace that prayer now brings them, the hope that they have dared to dream over their babies. It seems fragile, this hope, but later, as you think about it and debrief with your group, the picture that comes to you is of slender saplings—bending with the wind but not breaking, putting down unseen roots.

• Day 7: Visit Grasyela, your sponsored child

  The day you’ve been waiting for the most, ever since you saw the Indonesia Insight Trip on the Compassion website and thought, “I wonder…”

  It’s actually a wonderful thing that you’ll get to visit Graysela in her home; from what your field experience coordinator has told you, it isn’t always possible logistically.

  Grasyela is 12 years old, tall and thin. You give her a big hug and compliment her headband and her earrings. It’s an awkward age, you remember, full of uncertainty in the transition from childhood to adolescence, and you want to do all you can to reinforce the messages you’ve been writing to her for three years: you are beautiful, God loves you, I love you.

  Grasyela gives you a purse that she’s made herself—sequins sewn in perfect symmetry—and beams when you empty your change and cards into it and put it in your pocket.

  The centre staff tell you how talented Grasyela is and how she loves to sew. She is a quiet achiever in class, always with her head down. You think to yourself how grateful you are to be a small but significant part of this young girl’s life. Already you can see that she is going to be something special.

• Day 8: Debrief Day

  As your trip winds down, you spend the day as a team, discussing all that you’ve seen and done (or as much as you feel comfortable sharing, anyway) and talking about what to expect as you travel home. As you laugh and cry and pray together, you look around the room and feel blessed to have had met such friends on the journey.

  Your field experience leader reminds you that you need to buy souvenirs for your friends and family! Fortunately the staff have organised a trip to the local markets, where you can browse and wander, soak up the atmosphere and buy a few small items for your loved ones back at home.

  Your last dinner is with the Compassion Indonesia staff who have been your constant companions throughout. As you say goodnight, you struggle to think of the right words to thank them for all they’ve done for the group. They’ve helped without hesitation, never tiring, and they graciously wave away your thanks.

• Day 9: Arrive home!

  What a feeling to see your family, and give them a huge hug! You’re tired but eager to share your experiences. You say goodbye to the group as some of them head for the domestic transfer gate; you’re happy you will speak to them again soon as part of your debrief.

  You rest your head on the back of the car seat and gaze out the window. Your home town looks just as it did when you left. One thing’s for sure: your home might not have changed, but you certainly have.

Important Information

• Your hosts

  Your Australian Field Experience leader will be:

  Ian Stanfield, Field Experience Coordinator
  

  Compassion staff for nine years in June 2017. Coordinated short-term missions for more than 20 years as a senior pastor.

  "What I really love is seeing people become like Jesus—going on a trip with Compassion is a good way to watch that happen."

  Ian Stanfield will play a key role in preparing your group in the weeks before you set off on your trip, and ensure you have opportunities to get to know each other.

  The group will also be hosted by local Compassion staff upon arrival, who will arrange local transport and meals and will be your guides, translators and friends as you travel.

• ‘Preparing to Go’ video series

  Ensure you get the most from your trip by joining our ‘Preparing to Go’ training series. When you embark on a Compassion field experience, it’s much more than just a visit to see Compassion at work. It’s a chance for God to impact lives and for you to learn more about God’s heart for the poor. The ‘Preparing to Go’ video and discussion series will help prepare your heart and head for what’s to come.

• Not-included in Insight Trip cost
  • Travel from your hometown to group departure point in Sydney
  • Travel documents such as your passport
  • Immunisations (it is each traveller's responsibility to seek relevant medical advice prior to leaving Australia)
  • Excess baggage fees, including fees related to exceeding weight limits or number of pieces allowed
  • Additional snacks, mini-bar, shopping, gifts for your sponsored child or souvenirs purchased in-country
  • Internet, phone calls or laundry services while traveling
  • Additional travel at the conclusion of the Insight Trip. Some travellers choose to stay on and make their own arrangements to travel privately before returning to Australia. Compassion partners with Escape Travel, an Australian-based provider that can assist you with personal travel arrangements if needed.
• Payment Process

  You will be issued with two invoices to cover the total cost of this Field Experience:

  1. Invoice one will be for the payments below. Each payment will be listed as a separate item on the invoice with its own due date.
     • Payment one: $300 per person, which is your deposit and must be paid by the due date on the invoice to secure your place on the Field Experience.
     • Payment two: the bulk of the Field Experience costs, due approximately six months before departure.
     • Payment three: the balance of your Field Experience package, due approximately three months before departure (if you qualify for the early-bird discount, this balance will be reduced accordingly).
  2. Invoice two is for any additional costs related to visiting your sponsored child, and will be sent out one or two months before departure. If you do not incur any additional costs outside of the planned Field Experience, you will not receive invoice two.
• Traveller Agreement

  You will be provided with a Traveller Agreement, which includes all terms and conditions to be examined and confirmed prior to departure.

  Key aspects of this Field Experience information include:

  • Child Protection
  • Media/Image capture and use
  • Health and Safety (including immunisations and pre-existing medical conditions)
  • Travel Documentation
  • Travel Insurance
  • Acknowledgement and Release
• Cancellation Policy
  • Insight Trip deposits ($300 per person) are nonrefundable
  • Fifty percent of the Insight Trip cost will be required for cancellations less than three months before departure
  • One hundred percent of the Insight Trip cost will be required for cancellations less than one month before departure
  • Although rare, in the event that Compassion feels it is necessary to cancel a trip, a full refund will be given to all travellers