Ryan Haughton consults on natural resource management for the United Nations Development Programme in Jakarta, but he also makes time to explore and learn more about the people and cultures of Southeast Asia.
Tegalalang Rice Terrace Ubud, Bali
As the son of immigrant parents in Toronto, graduating Master of Global Governance student Ryan Haughton has always felt like a global citizen. In his hometown and at Waterloo, he thrived on learning about other cultures, trying new foods and meeting new people.
When he was asked to select where he would like to be placed for his program’s internship, he wanted to push himself. He decided not to travel to one of the countries he had studied in his courses. Instead, he picked Indonesia.
“It was a country that I knew absolutely nothing about,” he says. “I really wanted to step outside my comfort zone.”
Ryan Haughton (front row, right) with staff from international development organization Swisscontact and KOMUNTO, a community-based tourism initiative
Haughton landed in Jakarta in September 2016 and immediately started learning about the country and its people. With help from colleagues, locals, expats and Google Translate, he found an apartment in Kebon Kacang, in Central Jakarta, learned how to hail a cab, order food and ask simple questions.
“I love living in Jakarta,” he says. “I'm from a big city and I couldn't imagine living anywhere that was small or not constantly awake. It's been a great cultural experience for me.”
Ubud Royal Palace Ubud, Bali
As a local economic development intern for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Haughton supported sustainable local economic development projects in the country. When his contract ended in March, he was offered a position as a Natural Resource Governance and Innovation consultant, and he accepted.
He now works to improve natural resource management in the country and has supported an agency restoring peatlands; helped coordinate efforts to improve the monitoring and law enforcement of natural resources crimes; and strategized ways to develop tourism in the Wakatobi region as a way to improve marine conservation efforts and local economic development. The skills he developed through the Global Governance program, which he graduates from this June, have been invaluable in his career. “The program helped to enhance my critical thinking and writing capabilities and provided experiences, such as writing policy briefs, which helped me in my new role."
His position often takes him in and around Jakarta and he has spent several days in Wakatobi, one of the largest marine biodiversity areas, interviewing residents and visiting hotels and homestays, but Haughton does the majority of his travelling in his spare time. On the weekends, he explores the archipelagos by plane, boat, car and motorbike. So far, he’s visited Thousand Islands, Karimunjawa, Yogyakarta, Bali, Lombok, Puncak, Bandung and Bogor.
On weekday evenings, he enjoys the night life in the city, tries out new foods and tastes the coffee at some of the hundreds of local cafes. Though the country’s 240 million people collectively speak more than 300 languages, this hasn’t prevented Haughton from making friends, though he is learning how to speak the unifying Bahasa Indonesia language.
“The expat community here is quite large, but I've also made a lot of Indonesian friends too,” he says. “The only problem is that many of the expats are only here for short periods of time and the same goes for many of the Indonesian interns I work with, so I'm often having to say goodbye. However, one good thing is I now have friends all over the world.”
Kampung Sampela is a community of Bajo people who live in the sea roughly 15 minutes off the main island of Kaledupa Island, Wakatobi.