In Reply to: JBR Part 3: Singaraja , sponsor visit posted by injapan on Friday, 26. November 2004 at 09:47 Bali Time:
I have been back from Bali a couple of weeks and with Vikki my daughter we went up to Sambangan near Singaraja to visit Nyoman the student we have sponsored through the Helen Flavel foundation.
Our days trip & what happened is just about word for word the same as the original post above & so I will cut this short.
We were in touch with Ardi who is the driver who takes people up to the village & arranged to be picked up 7-30 one morning.
Helen had told me that Ardis wife was just about to give birth & I wasent suprised when Vikki received a phone call to say the baby was on the way & he couldnt take us.
Thats was easy fixed & with every second male in Bali having transport we were on our way with Miltons cooler from the Indo Cafe filled with soft drinks for the trip up & Bintang for the trip back.
We had arranged to meet Nyoman Sukadana who is Helens main contact in Bali at the terminal roundabout which is about five minutes from the school. He turned up on his motor cycle & it was not long & we were in the office of the school drinking water, eating biscuits & speaking through Suka to the headmaster, our little girls teacher, the school co-ordinater & a few others that came in & out & naturally our dear little girl Nyoman.
They explained to us the running of the school & the lives of the students that live around that area, including their parents & what they do to survive.
It came accross very strong that this was a very poor area & people were very much in need of help.
We asked many questions with Suka translating & found out most of the things we wanted to know.
They showed us around the school & went into all the class rooms & said hello to the kids taking photos & plenty of video.
The kids were amazed at seeing their photos on the back of a digital camera & I wandered how many times they had actually seen tourists around that area.
Nyoman & her little sister were given the rest of the school day off & after they presented us with a coconut drink in the shell we said our goodbys to all at the school & were on our way to where they live.
It took us just over five minutes to get to their house which was off the main road through the village & through to the rear corner of a field.
We had to walk over a very suspect plank over a creek to get to the house & when we got there Suka introduced us to Nyomans parents who were all smiles.There are four children, a boy fifteen who ( also sponsored ) goes to another school, our girl Nyoman her little sister & a baby.
Again with Suka doing the translating we spoke to the parents about their day to day lives & assured them we would look after Nyoman with her school fees, books & uniforms etc.
Their house is acctually two separate rooms one with a little veranda. Inside this one is a small room divided by a curtain which makes two bedrooms. One for the son & the other the parents & the baby. The other structure is the same sort of thing, divided by a curtain it is a bed room for Nyoman & her little sister & the other part the so called kitchen. The cooking is done in a few old pots over a fire in some rocks. Part dirt floors & very basic. They dont own the land its built on but were given permission to use a corner close to the creek as their own.The father hasent a full time job but picks up a bit of casual work here & there.
I took photos & video footage of the area.
We had taken two big bags of rice plus colouring books, pencils, toiletries, lollies, toys & assorted clothing for the whole family.
Vikki had also given Nyoman a bag with a heap of private little girls underclothes from K Mart.
I know we are only sponsoring Nyoman but how can one take things up for her & not the other children including Mum & Dad.
We stayed there about forty five minutes with the family & so it was about time to leave & I could see the kids just wanted to get into the bags of goodies so we said our good bys & left.
We then went to Sukas house to fill out the paperwork, had some water, met the people staying there, talked for a while & as we had arrangements fot that evening left for the return trip home.
As we drove home in the usual way of dodging other vehicles, overtaking cars & trucks on hills etc i drank my Bintang & thought of the looks on the kids faces at the school when we were there, the happiness shown by Nyoman & her parents when we gave them all the goodies, the conditions they live in & their general way of life.
To us its not good but to them its probably all what they know.
I will be back at Xmas & will take up a small gas stove & gas bottle for their kitchen.
Also a couple of pair of runners for the girls, as I noticed the ones they wore coming out of school had no back soles left.
At least thats one family that will be looked after.
Thank you Helen for this & a special thank you to Suka for his work also.
The Bintang tasted real good on the way home & I felt real good.
FOOTNOTE.
Vikki & I would like to thank Phil & Rhonda from this BTF for the donation of the items they gave us to take up that day.