In Reply to: A Tragedy in THE VILLAS posted by meho on Wednesday, 21. July 2004 at 18:08 Bali Time:
Dear Meho,
I am very sad to hear of your loss.People who are not in your situation (including myself) would not be able to comprehend the grief you must be feeling especially having such a unexpected loss of one so close in such seemingly needless tragic circumstances in what was no doubt expected to be a dream holiday. It is only natural as the first part of the grieving process (so they say/I am no therepist I might add) but it is well known that when something goes wrong the first thing we usually do is get angry and want to blame somebody or something.
I am Australian and I have been a homestay mother for 4 or 5yrs now hosting students from Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong etc. All come with different expections causing some conflict at times usually because they don't read the handbook stating what services I will (and do)provide and what is expected of them. I mention this because I have been many times to Bali and I am sure with the Balinese as with any human being if they knew how to swim properly or adminster life saving techniques they would have done so. I do not believe it is the Villas responsiblity to ensure that its staff (cooks,cleaners etc) should learn this unless it is stated in their literature. Having said all that and at the risk of making myself unpopular on this forum (that is if the facts you have given are correct) I feel some of the comments made especially by someone making a suggestion as to suicide over what was obviously a grammatical error very cruel and I hope you don't let mindless people like that add to your grief. Yes maybe the staff did seem detached and cold and would not accept blame. I don't think they are to blame and they were probably in some form of shock causing them to seem cold.Working in a Villa they are possibly uneducated and uniformed and probably have been told exactly what to say if anything goes wrong hence their apparent
lack of sympathy towards you. They were probably scared for their jobs amongst other things like legal responsibility not to mention the shock of witnessing such a tradegy.When thinking back to the good times it must be obvious to you that the most the Balinese in the hospitality industy are genuine in their desire to ensure us tourists have an enjoyable stay.
With deepest sympathies
Lolita