Living in a new place is always a delightful experience. We get to undergo new things that are not available at our hometown starting from new kinds of food, new cultural experiences, and others. Expats who live in Jakarta should be thankful as they can experience new things, as well as reenacting and continuing the hobbies they already have cause there are a bunch of things you can explore in Jakarta. However, living an exciting life in a new place does not mean we won’t miss the homies. Residing in a new place far away from the hometown might be scary for some people, as it might be hard to find people who connect to them as well as the homies.
Fortunately, many kinds of communities could be joined by the ex-pats that are, of course, English friendly. You can join the communities that are focusing on hobbies varying from sports, arts, and others such as mountaineering club, gamelan club, and theatre club. Aside from the communities that are aimed to fulfill the members’ hobbies, some communities gather people from specific regions of the world so the members get to feel the warmth of the homies from the distance. Communities specifically made for the social activists are also available in the city of Jakarta. Without further due, let’s jump right! Here are the communities that you can join while living in Jakarta.
1. Jakarta Players
Indonesia is well-known for the arts, therefore, it is not a troublesome work to find the communities which are focusing on arts. Jakarta Players is a community for one of the kinds of performing art, theatre, that has been active since 1968. You don’t need to be able to act to join this community. If you simply love theatre arts, you are eligible to join this community as a volunteer. Jakarta Players is expat-friendly, as all the shows are performed in English. Aside from channeling the hobby in theatre entertainment, the members also get to build connections with local people and other ex-pats, as the community accepts the members from any nationality. Jakarta Players is a non-profit community, so where do all the profits go to? All the profits for the performances will be donated to charities for Indonesian families who are in need. In Jakarta players, you can do what you love, surrounded by people who have the same interest, and do good deeds at the same time. A wonderful deal, isn’t it? Make sure to check out their website at jakartaplayers.org to know more about the community, past events, and upcoming shows by the community!
Social Media: @jakartaplayers
Official Website: https://www.jakartaplayers.org/
2. Jakarta Free Spirit Running Club
Are you a runner? Or do you like to do some exercises for the weekend? You can try to join the Jakarta Free Spirit Running Club! This is a weekly running group for runners of all abilities and ages. They have two days options available, firstly is on Saturday, starts at 6.30 am to run about 5K at the Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta, second id on Sunday, where they do longer run from 15 – 25K that start at McDonald’s Kemang at 6 am. They also have a smaller group that runs together weekly at Gelora Bung Karno, as well as other areas in Kemang and Pondok Indah districts. So if you’re in for having fun and get to meet new people, try to join this club!
Social Media: Jakarta Free Spirit on Facebook
Official Website: http://www.jakartafreespirit.org/
3. Lontar Foundation
Lontar Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1987 by four Indonesian writers and an American translator. This community is developed to promote Indonesian literature to the world by translating the literature into English. This organization stands independently; it is not affiliated with any political groups and commercial companies. Therefore, all the works are purely translated with the original meanings without changing the essence to fulfill the desire of a party. If you have interests in Indonesian literature and translation works, this organization is the perfect one for you. The works will later be sold physically or online through the digital library. By joining the Lontar Foundation, you help to provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences by letting Indonesian literature to be accessible to everyone in the world.
Address: Jl. Danau Laut Tawar No. 53, Pejompongan, Jakarta 10210 Indonesia
Social Media: @lontarfoundation on Instagram
Official Website: https://lontar.org/
4. Go Wild! Indonesia
Go-Wild! Indonesia or Nature Lovers Club is a non-profit group of volunteers that organizes guided trips to places of floral and faunal interest in Indonesia. From National parks, forests, conservation sites, and other areas of outstanding natural beauty or species interest are included. If you are the type who wants to take part in challenging activities, it might the best community that you can join! They also have trips that involve gentle strolls, suitable for all ages and families.
Read also : Language Communities in Jakarta to Improve Your Bahasa
5. Women’s International Club (WIC)
Women’s International Club is a multinational club with the motto of “Friendship Through Understanding”. Hence, by joining the club, the women can foster friendship and mutual understanding, contribute to the cultural development of women, promote the cause of education, and enrich social improvement. What are the members doing at the club, then? The club provides classes such as cooking class, language class, art class, and others, so the women can enrich their skills by joining this club. Other than improving oneself, the club also provides activities that can benefit people in need such as scholarship and social welfare programs. The scholarships from WIC are given to students with academic excellence who lacks financial resources. While the social welfare programs consist of sets of activities to support local institutions such as orphanages, seniors’ homes, mental health institutions, and others. What are you waiting for? Greet your new female empowerment buddies in Women’s International Club. Find more detailed information on their official website.
Address: Gedung Nyi Ageng Serang Lantai 4, Jalan H. R. Rasuna Said Kavling C-22, Kuningan, RT.2/RW.5, Karet Kuningan, Kota Jakarta Selatan, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta 12940, Indonesia
Phone Number: +6221-526-3302
Social Media: WIC Jakarta (@wicjakartajkt) on Facebook
Official Website: https://www.wic-jakarta.or.id/
6. Wine and Spirits Circle (WSC)
The Wine and Spirits Circle is uniting all wine lovers based in Jakarta, Bali, and Lombok. They have monthly gatherings on the last Friday of each month at a different venue for wine tasting and dinner. If you want to join this community, you will get the extra benefit of access to great wines, newsletters, and free corkage at many restaurants in Jakarta!
Address: Jl. Kemang Raya No.45B, RT.9/RW.1, Bangka, Kec. Mampang Prpt., Kota Jakarta Selatan, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta 12730, Indonesia
Phone Number: +6221-7082-0027 or +6221-7179-2577
7. Jakarta International Community Choir
If you are a singing enthusiast, Jakarta International Community Choir (JICC) can be the best community choice for you. This community is made up of expatriates and locals, no audition needed! Directed by Bernice Nikki, a musician, voice mentor, and performing arts teacher who teaches and directs in several music institutes and schools in Jakarta, the JICC do they rehearsals every Monday night from 7.30 pm to 9 pm at Jl. Wolter Monginsidi No 21, Kebayoran Baru, Jaksel (Roger’s Salon, 3rd floor).
Social Media: JICC – Jakarta International Community Choir (@JICC.Choir) on Facebook
Official Website: http://www.jicchoir.com/
8. Jakarta Toastmaster Club Indonesia
Jakarta’ Toastmaster Club is providing you a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop public speaking and leadership skills. A very good environment to enhance your skills! They do a meeting every Monday at PB Taxand Auditorium, South Jakarta, from 6 PM to 9.30 PM.
Social Media: @jakartatoastmasters on Instagram
Official Website: https://jakarta.toastmastersclubs.org/
9. Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club (JFCC)
The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club (JFCC) is a non-profit organization for international journalists based in Indonesia. They have more than 400 members and 50 foreign media organizations with all the members being voluntarily basis. A great place if you want a network with key newsmakers, analysts, diplomats, and foreign correspondents, or if you are interested in public forums on issues of interest to international media, as well as informal social events.
Address: Sona Topas Tower, Floor 5A Suite 526, Jl. Jend. Sudirman No.Kav 26, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta 12920, Indonesia
Phone Number: +6221-2985-8007
Social Media: @jfccjakarta on Instagram, @JFCCIndonesia on Facebook
Official Website: https://jfcc.info/
10. Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN)
Animal lovers should join this community! Jakarta Animal Aid Network or JAAN is a non-governmental organization dedicated to improving the Welfare of Animals in Indonesia. Divided into two divisions, the first one is Domestic Rescue, where they do rescues, shelters, rehabilitates, re-home for cats and dogs, doing Dog Meat-Free Campaign in Indonesia, as well as sterilize street cats. While the second one, Wildlife Rescue division doing things includes all cases regarding primates, dolphins, tigers, orangutans, and many more. They also do campaigns against keeping primates as pets. You can see their other activities on their website or social media. If you are interested to be a part of JAAN, you can register to be a volunteer.
Social Media: @jakartaanimalaidnetowrk on Instagram and Facebook
Official Website: https://www.jakartaanimalaid.com/
11. Jakarta Broadway team
Jakarta Broadway Team is an association of the Musical Theatre in Jakarta. An independent company that makes its production as well as the custom-made public and private show. There are more than 30 performers and creative teams, if you are interested to join, you must be able to sing, act, and dance.
Social Media: Jakarta Broadway Team (@jktbrdwyteam) on Facebook
12. Social Organization
The communities mentioned above are about hobbies and empowerment. What about this one? Social Organization is not the name of a community, but rather the type of the community. It is always comfortable to be close to people with the same origins. At least, it can cure a little homesickness while being away from our hometown. Social Organization is an organization that gathers citizens from specific regions to do activities related to the place of their citizenship. There are numerous social organizations in Indonesia such as India club, Belgian & Luxemburg Indonesia Club, Australia & New Zealand Association (ANZA), and others. Many activities are done in the social organization. They are mostly, but not limited to, holding events that are usually done in their countries of origin like celebrating independence day and bringing local tradition to Indonesia, for example, Oktoberfest from Germany. You can get to know more about the social organization from your country of origin by typing the name of your country citizenship + in the Indonesia community.
So, are you still interested in mingling with ex-pat pals around communities in Jakarta? Because this list might help you increase the bonding between you and other ex-pats. Given this huge opportunity, go for it!
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