Talia Turay, a 3rd Year Architecture Student at Homerton College, tells us about her experience volunteering in Borneo...
Last summer, I spent a month in Kalimantan, Borneo, as a volunteer in a live design-and-build workshop - an opportunity I first discovered on social media earlier this year. I was drawn to the project as a way to gain hands-on experience relevant to architecture while contributing to a meaningful cause.
Funding the trip was my first challenge. With the generous support of the Homerton College Travel Award, combined with personal fundraising efforts and savings, I was able to cover my travel, other expenses and raise additional money for the charity we were working with. This support made participation possible for me, and I would encourage other students to explore similar funding opportunities if they are interested in volunteering abroad.
Our team designed and constructed a teaching space on a remote site in Jerumbun, owned by an inspiring NGO called Friends of Nature, People and Forests (FNPF). The project was facilitated by CAUKIN Studio, an architecture practice that specialises in live, collaborative impact-building projects around the world - from Indonesia and Fiji to Guatemala and Zambia. Each of their projects lasts about eight weeks and is divided into two halves; I joined for the second half.
My experience began with a 20+ hour journey from London Heathrow involving planes, riverboats, and open-top trucks. The final leg of the journey took us through more than 10 km of palm oil plantations, a stark reminder of the deforestation crisis that threatens Borneo’s ecosystem. Reaching Jerumbun felt like stepping onto the front line of rainforest conservation: we were deep in the jungle, with minimal infrastructure, surrounded by plantation grids.
To understand the importance of the project, it’s essential to know a bit about FNPF. For over 20 years, they have worked on conservation across five sites in Indonesia, with a mission to improve the well-being of local communities and offer alternative livelihoods through education, agroforestry, ecotourism, and farming. By doing so, they aim to reduce dependence on destructive industries such as illegal logging, mining, and palm oil production - all of which threaten the forest and the species that call it home, including the critically endangered orangutans (which I was lucky enough to see in the wild!).
On our first day, one of the local FNPF team members gave us a tour of the site, which was alive with plant and animal life - sugarcane, guava, cassava, vanilla pods were just some examples of FNPF’s experiments in sustainable farming solutions. With such fresh produce growing nearby, it’s no surprise the meals we ate were amazing: every dish was authentic Indonesian cuisine. My personal favourite was the pineapple, freshly picked just outside my dorm.
Once we’d settled in, the work began - along with a whole new lifestyle: cold showers, swarms of mosquitoes, and cockerels crowing at dawn. Our daily routine started at 7 am with breakfast, then on-site by 8. We’d begin each morning with a group warm-up - my favourite was a sword-fighting tutorial led by one of the participants - before heading into a full day of construction work, stopping only for group lunches and dinners. These meal breaks became moments where we shared stories, played cards, and recovered from the sweltering heat. I don’t think I’ve ever sweated so much in my life, but the effort was worth every drop.
In just four weeks, we transformed the skeletal frame of a building into a fully functional teaching space - complete with doors, a roof and planting. The sense of pride was immense. On our last day, we held an opening ceremony, sharing an authentic Indonesian feast served on banana leaves with the local FNPF staff who had worked alongside us. They blessed the building and prayed over us, and many of us were moved to tears as we reflected on what we had built and what it would mean for the community.
In October, over 200 children will visit Jerumbun to learn about agroforestry and take part in tree-planting activities - something that will now take place in the building we created. Knowing that our work will be part of that experience, and will stand for decades to come, is deeply rewarding.
Volunteering on this project was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. It opened my eyes to life beyond the UK, introduced me to incredible people, and gave me clarity about my own future intentions. I’ll carry the lessons I learned in Jerumbun with me for a very long time.
