VIBE Foundation
(Volunteers and Interns for Balinese Education)
The VIBE foundation is a unique non-profit organization based in Bali, Indonesia, dedicated to providing free educational services to rural areas of Bali and western Java. VIBE’s primary services provided to communities are ESL (English as a Second Language), creative arts workshops for children, environmental awareness programs for primary and secondary schools, and teacher-trainings for local Indonesian teachers. What is unique about VIBE is that their services are facilitated by skilled international volunteers who commit to assisting for a period of 4 to 6 months.
The foundation was established in 2001 as a small outreach program in northern Bali and has grown to encompass communities in various regions of Bali and in one region of western Java. Since 2001, VIBE has placed over 60 volunteers to assist in education projects in Indonesia. VIBE remains an outreach program where services are integrated into local communities and schools through a positive cooperation involving VIBE volunteers and local community members, teachers, and families. Community involvement is the key to creating successful relationships in the villages where VIBE works, and without this community involvement and support the programs would not run effectively.
Starting in 2003, VIBE has begun assisting other organizations in Indonesia to receive skilled volunteers and interns through VIBE programs. VIBE affiliate internship programs include internships with primate conservation, endangered species, with an orphanage, environment, public health, women’s health, and more. Through their relationship with other NGOs VIBE helps to recruit, place, and coordinate individuals searching for internships in Indonesia.
Currently VIBE volunteers are working together with schools in Tabanan, Singaraja, and Gianyar to support English language programs in primary and secondary public schools, art programs for children, and environmental awareness programs. VIBE also has several volunteers placed with a NGO working towards Sumatran Orangutan conservation and education, a web designer who has provided website support for two local charities, an intern for an eco-tourism project in western Java, and a nurse who has assisted in two clinics in Bali and will soon be joining a team providing relief to tsunami victims in Banda Aceh.
Those working with VIBE are committed to their mission to provide free services to Indonesian communities and charities in Indonesia. Their goal is to not only to offer such services, but to also empower the communities reached by VIBE through providing training and skills that can be used towards establishing sustainability and opening opportunistic doors where such opportunity might otherwise be difficult.
The future dreams of the foundation are to provide more in depth educational training for the communities where they work, to develop community centers where free educational services can be accessed, to expand the range of outreach, and to increase promotion in literacy in rural areas through classroom libraries and mobile libraries.
VIBE invites anyone who is interested in finding out more information about their program activities to visit their site at www.vibefoundation.org or anyone on Bali is invited to meet with VIBE, visit a project, or offer their time as a volunteer.
