About Nusa Penida: Nusa Penida is a small island on the northeastern edge of the Indian Ocean. Though it has strong religious and cultural ties to Bali, 20 miles away by sea, it is a very different place. While Bali is lush and heavily touristed, Nusa Penida is dry and ruggedly beautiful, with stone terracing clinging to the sides of steep limestone hills. In small villages, the island’s 40,000 inhabitants survive by farming and fishing. On the south side of the island, a spectacular bamboo stairway leads down 700 foot cliffs to waterfalls just above the sea. This remarkable setting is matched by the richness of the local culture, where Hindu traditions and arts are unaffected by Western influences. With almost no tourist infrastructure, and only three Westerners owning homes on the island, our group’s experience has much in common with accounts written about the region by Margaret Mead, Colin McPhee, and Miguel Covarrubias in the 190s. Diving and snorkeling sites are among the most beautiful and unspoiled in the world. There is virtually no crime on the island, and few of the health risks found in other locations in the region.

The Project: The group begins with a two-day orientation in the cultural center of Ubud, on the island of Bali, where students experience the music, dance, and visual arts of the former kingdom of Giruyer, staying at a small inn consisting of ironwood bungalows overlooking waterfalls and lush gardens. They then cross to Nusa Penida by boat to live in the project village of Tiagan, situated in the western part of the island, where they undertake community service projects in small groups with local friends. The village’s 250 residents grow tapioca, corn, peanuts, papayas, bananas, and mangoes. Past groups have made improvements to the town’s most sacred temple, taught conversational English and art to island children, repaired a dilapidated community building, improved sports facilities, and undertaken agricultural work with subsistence farmers. This summer our group will work on similar projects based upon the community’s greatest need as determined by our hosts, the Tiagan Banjar (governing body). Living conditions are extremely simple; the group sleeps in two buildings (one for the girls and one for the boys). Students work together preparing meals and shopping for food in outdoor village markets.

Weekends: There is time to join local friends in celebrations and to hike, snorkel, and scuba dive; those who wish to become certified divers may do so in an intensive two-day course on the nearby island of Nusa Lembongan. Temple ceremonies, which occur frequently, are open to any student willing to wear appropriate ceremonial garb. The program ends with two days on the magical island of Bali where our group visits beaches and makes an extraordinary trek to the “Top of the World”, the summit of Bali’s highest volcano, Gunung Agung, before spending two days exploring Hong Kong en route home.