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Alicia, 19, is just one of the 936,000 international students who enrolled into Australia’s education system in 2024. 

To date, around 773,000 international students on average have enrolled at an Australian education institution every year since 2019.

Despite the sea of international students crossing Australia’s borders every year, loneliness is not an uncommon feeling. 

“In the first few months, I was so lonely,” said Alicia, an Indonesian cookery student studying a Diploma of Hospitality Management at the William-Angliss Institute. “I didn’t have any friends, because they were all back home and I didn’t know how to make new ones.”

For many of these students, studying in Australia is just one of many firsts; the first time being away from home, the first time living independently, and the first time having to navigate a completely foreign environment.

According to the Department of Education, only 2% of international students that enrolled this year were of Indonesian ethnicity, with the highest proportion of international students being of Chinese ethnicity (23%).

During those first few months, Alicia’s life consisted of only “work, school and church. I do nothing besides that.” Though she found it fulfilling, the gap in her heart that longed for connection quickly caught up with her.

Alicia, who has always loved playing instruments, wanted to use this talent to worship God, and in doing so had stumbled upon a community that changed her life.

In their website, GMS Church dubs itself as a “cell-based church with an apostolic and prophetic mandate.” It was within this Indonesian church that Alicia managed to find a community, primarily through its weekly Friday meet-ups called ‘Connect Group’. 

“Back then, I wanted to go home so bad, but ever since coming to Connect Group, I don’t have such a strong desire to go back to Indonesia anymore,” she said.

Every Friday, small groups consisting of the GMS Church’s youth come together to have a weekly catch-up, engaging in activities such as Bible studies, praise and worship sessions, and even group prayers. 

These Friday night meet-ups have offered a space where Indonesian students could get a glimpse of home whilst forming deeper connections with one another.

When asked whether she feels upset about being away from her family for so long, Alicia claims to have made amends with it, “because I have this community that can help me go through it. Having the Connect Group helps a lot because I already feel like I’m at home now.”

For Alicia, the glimmer of hope she found at Connect Group has bled into other areas of her life; outside of church, she is more confident in making new friends, and her social life is now filled to the brim with all the joy that she’s been praying for.

“I suddenly have so many friends. I’m not alone anymore.”

Alicia urges everyone to give church youth groups a try, “so that you can feel the sense of welcomeness and comfortableness that we are eager to give to you.”