Ellen GRIFFITHS

Student of The University of Adelaide, Australia
Exchange to Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia

Halo samua. Nama saya Ellen Griffiths. I am a student of Adelaide University, where, in 2012 I graduated with a Bachelor of Development Studies. At that time I was also in my first year of a Diploma of Languages in Indonesian and became a very grateful recipient of the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards.

The award made it possible for me to spend the second semester of 2013 studying in Indonesia. Thanks to the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards, that semester totally changed my life, worldview and opened up new opportunities for me. I am the first person in my family to have a qualification in a language other than English and officially fulfil a lifelong ambition to be bilingual.

Because of this prestigious award, I was able to study at UGM, Gadjah Mada University in Jogjakarta, one of the most respected universities in Asia and whose alumni include President Elect Joko Widodo. I was immersed in budaya dan bahasa 24/7 for four months. I lived for a month in a kos, basic student apartment. Then I spent three months with a Javanese family in a large homestay, accommodating people from all over the world who worked at NGOs and embassies in Jakarta and it was an excellent opportunity to make contacts.

I think one of the most surreal and inspiring experiences I had at UGM was when I shared a conversation in Indonesian with a student from Azerbaijan. He didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Aziri, so we communicated in our new, very basic second language, Bahasa Indonesia.

I have now visited three of Indonesia’s islands. Only 18,000 to go, and experienced their diverse and fascinating cultures. I’ve seen an election campaign in a young Islamic democracy, sultan’s palaces, volcanos, Komodo dragons and my Melburnian classmate marry a local lad in traditional Javanese style. These experiences were only possible because of the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards.

I have made strong connections with Indonesians, particularly teachers at the language schools where I took extracurricular classes, and especially with Aan my bahasa tutor, cultural tutor, ojek driver and tour guide whose friendship I will always treasure.

I am now studying a Graduate Certificate in Education so that I may teach English to speakers of other languages. I hope to return to Indonesia for an extended period, to live and teach English to adults who have little education and are trying to improve their earning capacity by having knowledge of English. Education, I see as one of the most important aspects of International Development.

I would like to thank Cheung Kong Group and the Australian Government, for the funding I received and for making these scholarships possible.

Terima kasih, Thank you.

© Copyright 2018 CK Group. All rights reserved.