By Jacqueline Kiah Develter, Samyuktha Janavikulam, Yi Jean Lau – BDS Year 5
Earlier this year, we had the privilege of attending the first collaboration of the Stovit Summer Course x Prosthodontic Summer Camp 2024, at Universitas Airlangga in Surabaya, Indonesia. Our week on this course brought together over 40 students from 8 different countries including Japan, Iran, Greece, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, and the UK. Our trip included a vast array of education, cultural experiences, community outreach and social interaction, and we will forever be grateful for the opportunity, enthusiasm, and kindness shown by all staff and students of the Faculty of Dentistry at UNAIR.
Education at the forefront
Despite spending only 8 days in Surabaya, the course enriched our knowledge in so many different ways. Our jam packed schedule started with a gorgeous opening ceremony, where we met special guests from the dental school, including the Dean, Vice Dean, and many knowledgeable tutors, including the brilliant Stovit summer course lead – Dr Nadia Kartikasari.
We attended lectures on HIV and caring for patients with ASD, with amazing lecturers from the University. Throughout the week, we took part in practical workshops including Iris painting for eye replacement prosthodontics, dental forensics, and carried out radiography using the monobath technique. The workshops were one of the highlights of the education we received during this trip, experiencing many new practical elements of Dentistry we had not yet seen.
Embracing the culture
The students of Universtas Airlangga were proud to immerse us in their culture, performing traditional Indonesian dances in the opening ceremony and leading a city tour, including visiting all the famous sights of the city and wearing traditional clothing through the Old town. The sunsets in Surabaya were among some of the most beautiful sights will ever seen.
Home to the oldest dental school in Indonesia, the campus of the faculty of dentistry was beautiful. Throughout the week we tried a huge variety of Indonesian foods including Nasi Goreng and we got to try Salted Egg dishes for the first time! The flavours were very new and different to the foods we have in the UK and we would love to try more in the future.
Warm reception for outreach project.
Community engagement holds a special place in the heart of the Faculty of Dentistry, as we had the privilege of attending a local middle school to deliver education on oral hygiene. We were blown away by the incredibly warm reception the students gave us, and by their showcases of their many talents.
UNAIR also hosted an engagement day, providing prevention-based care and oral hygiene education. We were able to not only help the children understand the importance of oral health but played some traditional Indonesian games with them. Through this we learnt the importance of team work whilst also having fun.
The kind children we met during the outreach events of the course have had such a lasting impression on us all, and truly made our week in Surabaya very special.
Plus lots of social activity!
Our hosts at UNAIR ensured we had a week to remember, and organised events such as Cultural night, where each university displayed a tradition of their home country, which entailed making Japanese origami, Greek dancing, Malaysian martial arts and many more!
We also travelled to East Java to visit Mount Bromo, the journey having many laughs along the way! Mount Bromo is an active volcano, to which when we reached the peak early morning for sunrise, had views like no other, leaving us all speechless. After this we were able to have a traditional breakfast in the desert which was such a wonderful experience.
We were also so grateful for the warm welcome and the time spent with the dental students of Universtas Airlangga, and with the students from other universities, together having made friends for life and making memories we will cherish forever.
Words cannot describe the gratitude we have to the University of Manchester, Universitas Airlangga, and to all the students of all the universities worldwide that attended the course with us.
We thank you all for giving us this once in a lifetime opportunity, and for allowing us to have memories that we will forever hold in our hearts. We had the most heart-warming, exhilarating, incredible trip, and we have made connections and friends for life, all of which would not be possible without you all.
We hope to visit Surabaya and the Faculty of Dentistry at Universitas Airlangga in our future – Kiah, Sam and Jean.