Volunteer Graduates Help Indonesians

Miss Florence Jones. Lecturer in English, explained the Volunteer Graduate Scheme to Salient recently.

Born in 1959, the scheme follows a similar Australian one which preceded it by about six years. Both have as their main aim the provision of graduates for Indonesia, where there is a desperate shortage. The prospectus issued by the Council for volunteer Service Abroad says the need for qualified people is greater in Indonesia than anywhere in Asia.

Graduates and their wives have their passage, and certain expenses paid for them by the New Zealand Government. They are chosen by a joint committee of the VSA and NZUSA, who arrange their departure.

The first New Zealanders to go to Indonesia found that their education and experience of responsibility could at times be more of a hindrance than a help. They did not at first find it easy to be accepted by the local people as equals. By the time their terms were completed, however, they had made firm friendships on the basis of mutual respect. They worked with Indonesians, lived in the same sort of houses, and received the same wage. They all went for terms of between two and five years.

One New Zealand couple currently in Indonesia, Ron and Anne

Kilgour, will be visiting Victoria early in June. Ron Kilgour teaches at Bandung's Training College and in his spare time administers a 300-bed hospital. Mrs. Kilgour teaches English.