I know several of you have been waiting for this one so I sat up and type up the days proceeding and then made sure to get this one done as well. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Day 9 - Friday 20th October
We were up at 7 am, showered and then headed down to the restaurant for buffet breakfast. I had an omelette and although nice not nearly as good as the ones at the Bali Prani.
The day for our big school visit had finally arrived and boy was I excited. Littlejack from BTF had asked if she could join us today so I had arranged for Made to pick her up from Ramayana Hotel at 8 am and then come and collect us. They arrived at about 8.15 am and after a couple of trips back and forth to our room the van was loaded with all the goodies for the school and Made's family. Gee our room now looked rather bare but it was nice to have some extra space. We set off for a long 3 ½ hour drive out to Boutihing. It is 25 kms east of Singaraja on the north side of Bali. There was no stops along the way as we were all keen to get to the village. We visit SD 3 Boutihing and this is the second time we have been there. We are the only westeners to have visited this school and it shows in a lot of ways. I have come home with big plans to get our local Rotary Club on board to assist with some much needed facilities for the school. Last year when we visited we took out second hand clothes for the kids but after being there knew I wanted to do more for these children. In all apparently there are about 300 students in this school however about 40 are from very poor families. Made will only allow me to do so much so this is why we only purchased 25 pairs of shoes.
We finally arrived at Made's families' home at about 12 noon. They also are in Boutihing but as they have two older children who are working away from the village are doing reasonably well by village standards. Since our last village they have set up a small shop in the front room of their house and now even have a scooter. A quick stop in to say hello to his mum and younger sister Ketut who is about to turn 12 (she was home for lunch when we first arrived but had to return to school soon after we got there). Our daughters met Ketut last year and as our oldest daughter is very close in age they have become penfriends. We dropped off all the goodies we had brought over for Ketut (our oldest daughter's hand me down clothes, lots of stuffed toys as Ketut collects and loves these, framed photos from our visit last year, coloured pencils, textas, colouring in books, crayons, an Australian fairy tale book, toiletries, hairbrushes, hairties, shampoos and bath gel along with an array of other things. We gave Made's mum the box of noodles and boxes of powdered milk we had bought for her at Makro along with the mobile phone, charger and power point adaptor. She does not speak English so told Made to thank us and tell us 'God bless you'. As she knew we were coming she had cooked us banana fritters to eat. She is such a lovely lady. After a quick hello we loaded back into the van and headed up to the school. Made's father Gede came with us.
As we were driving up the hill towards the school we began noticing some of the children walking home. A quick yell out the window by Gede soon had them turning around and running back up the hill toward the school telling all their fellow classmates on the way. The school had apparently finished early today as they had had sports day and there was also a cremation happening in the village that afternoon.
We arrived at the school to find it was closed and the teachers had gone home. My heart temporarily sank. The word quickly got out however that we had arrived and a teacher quickly came back to the school to greet us. I was told by Made that the children all remember Mark, myself and our girls from our visit last year. The children were asking where our girls were and we had to assure them we would bring them again as soon as we could. Littlejack had bought lollies and choc wafer sticks which she handed out much to the delight of the children. We had also brought out a couple of balls, skipping ropes and frisbees and showed the kids how to use them. They were quickly having a great time playing with them. Once the teacher arrived we gave him the 20 footballs, a few soccer balls ( I had hoped to get more at Makro but there were none there on any of the visits I had done), a hand pump and needle for pumping up the balls if they should go flat, 12 skipping ropes, 20 frisbees. This was to become the sporting equipment for the school. We also gave the teacher an Australian fairy tale book (the children here are learning English), a map of the World and one of Australia. The teacher thanked us for all the things we had brought for the children and for our support to the school. When our two girls go to private school here and have the best of everything it is the least we can do and we only wish we could do more. Well hopefully I will be able to get the ball rolling on this one now that we are home.
We also brought an enlarged photo in a frame from our visit last year to put up in the school. It was great watching the kids looking at the photo and trying to spot themselves. They find photos, video cameras and digital cameras fascinating as the only other time they had seen them was when we visited last year. Mark uses our video camera with the viewfinder facing them so they can see themselves and I show them the photos I take on the screen of the digital camera. They love this and we are usually mobbed by children all laughing at the pictures and pushing each other out of the way in order to get in to the shot. When I'm taking photos I generally have to ask Made to ask them to stand back as they usually are way too close and if I attempt to step back they step forward. I really must endevour to learn to speak Indonesian before our next trip.
Mark took video while I handed out the new backpacks. As soon as I started there was pushing and shoving as they were frightened they would miss out. I missed their initial reaction as I was swamped by kids but littlejack said it was priceless. Apparently they were so happy with the new bag but then one opened it to find it was full of goodies which quickly had the others checking inside of their bags as well. They had a great time investigating everything. The funniest moment was when littlejack told me perhaps I should have the teacher tell them what the glue stick was as she had seen many smelling them and thought perhaps they didn't know what it was and thought it was perfume. I quickly organised Made to ask the teacher to hold one up and explain what it was. It was so funny watching their reactions and some of them running their fingers through their hair. It appeared they had thought it was hair gel and were now feeling their hair which was standing on end as it was caked in it. Even the parents that were around found this to be very amusing. We all had to laugh at the innocence of these kids.
We were not able to hand out the school shoes while we were there as the headmaster had a list of the children who the shoes were going to and he was not there. We were assured they would be handed out to the children tomorrow. I would have loved to have seen the reaction of these kids when they got new shoes as well.
A short time later Made came to me with the photo we had brought from our trip last year. He pointed out a boy who was in the picture to me and then pointed to him standing on the sidelines watching all the antics. He at this stage did not have a school bag. Apparently he was no longer attending the school as his parents could not afford to send him anymore. He had not been to school for several months now. We promptly made sure he also had a school bag as well. I then spoke to the teacher via Made to find out how much it would cost for him to come back to school. Upon finding out that it was 280 000 Rp (AUS $37.33) for the school books etc, 25 000 Rp (AUS $3.33) for his uniform and 30 000 Rp (AUS $4.00) for what I could work out was the annual enrolment fee, total 385 000 Rp (AUS $51.33) for one year, I asked if I was to pay it now could he start back at school tomorrow (the children here go for 6 half days a week). Once I was told yes there was no hesitation, I paid the 385 000 Rp to the teacher for which he gave me a hand written receipt. I insisted to the teacher that he be the first to get a new pair of shoes tomorrow as well.
Our new sponsor sons name is Wayan, he is 12 years old. His birthday is actually the day after our eldest daughter's birthday. He was very happy to be going back to school although a bit overwhelmed with the events that had just taken place. His school friends were also very happy that he would be returning to school the next day after being taken to Singaraja to buy his school uniform.
His mother Nyomen was also in the schoolyard as they had come up to attend the cremation in the village and had seen all the antics at the school so came by to see what was going on. When she was told what we had just done she was extremely happy and grateful to us. She invited us back to visit the family home.
We had also been invited to attend the cremation in the village so decided to make a quick stop a few doors down where we purchased 25 kgs of rice, sugar, washing detergent (suitable for clothes and dishes), 2 cans of milk and a packet of smokes for dad for 122 000 Rp (AUS $16.27). We would then visit the family home and then return to go to the cremation. We all piled into Made's van and set off back down the hill for the family home. We had to get out of the van and walk a short distance to get to their home as it was not accessible by car and we had gone as far as the van could take us. Mark offered to carry the rice to the their home but Nyomen insisted that she carry it. She propped it onto her head and carrying the other items we had got for them she set off with us following closely behind.
When we got to their home Nyomen starting yelling out up the hill. A few moments later Wayan's dad Gede appeared (he had been cutting grass). He was quickly told what had transpired and the only words that we all understood was 'you're joking' to which we all had a laugh. He shook our hands and profusely thanked us. As we were saying goodbye littlejack very kindly slipped 50 000 Rp (AUS $6.67) into Gede's top pocket (she had checked with Made first to make sure this was an okay thing to do). We were not sure if he was aware she had done this but are sure he will come across it.
We headed back to the van and the whole family walked us out. One of the neighbours whose children go to the school and had received a new bag came out and gave us all some Balinese cakes. They are black, sweet and very sticky. I can't remember what they were called. Wayan and Nyomen came back to the village with us in the van to go to the cremation. I think we became the main attraction here. I was concerned that we did not have sarongs on and did not want to offend people but was quickly told that as we were outsiders it was okay. The adults were bringing out their children for us to take photos of and were thrusting themselves and their children in front of the camera. This was quite funny to see. The children from the immediate family of the deceased where dressed in gorgeous traditional dress. At one point a few of the local ladies were pointing and laughing at my white legs.
We took some fantastic photos and video footage while at the school and here and all ran out of space on our cameras. Typical to Bali time things were delayed and were not going to start until 3 pm. As we still had a long drive back to Kuta we decided to head off. The children all followed us to the van and were waving and yelling goodbye as we left. What a priceless day!
We went back to Made's families' home. I was busting to use the toilet by this time so had to have my first experience using a Balinese squat toilet (not sure how I have managed to avoid this to date). Ketut was home from school for the day and looking at all of her goodies. Made was teasing her when they came across a bikini. She was very embarrassed. We finally bid our farewells with a promise to return again and headed on to Singaraja. I was keen to get some Arak so Made stopped in at a couple of places and we managed to get a 650ml bottle of 40% Arak for 17 000 Rp (AUS $2.27). I also spotted a large bundle of soccer balls out the front of the supermarket in Singaraja so had Made enquire on the price of them. They were a mere 3 500 Rp (AUS $0.47) each. I quickly jotted this down for our next trip as I will be sure to stop in here on the way to the school and buy up big.
We then made our way down to Candi Kuning markets to stop in at the grand opening of Crackers Bar and Grill. I was busting to use the toilets again by this time and believe me it was worth holding on for. The new toilet block is absolutely stunning and the bar is also fantastic. I think it will also help to increase the amount of tourists who visit these markets while in Bali so therefore will help out the local stall owners as well. We had the pleasure of meeting Cracker just as he was leaving. We stopped in at the bar for a bintang and bought 2 t-shirts which were made by the Adopta Co-op widows while we were there. We also had the pleasure of meeting and sitting and having a chat with David and Moira. We will definitely be looking at spending some time at their hotel (Pacung Indah) on our next visit to Bali. They are a lovely couple and a wealth of information.
To all of you driving up through the middle of Bali during your time here I strongly recommend you stop in at Cracker's Bar and Grill. It is a lovely establishment, the staff are very welcoming and the toilets are 'Cracker's'. Drinks are also very well priced with a small bintang being 10 000 Rp (AUS $1.33) and a soft drink being 5 000 Rp (AUS $0.67).
After a short stay we continued on back down to Kuta returning to the Bounty Hotel after dropping littlejack back to the Ramayana Hotel. We got back at about 8 pm. We once again bid farewell to Made and paid him 350 000 Rp (AUS $46.67) for the day. I was so keen to see the photos from today and as our camera's memory card was full again we drop the card in for developing and transferring to cd at the Kodak shop next to Rainbows Café. We had a quick tea at Rainbows Café again as we were buggered by this time. Mark had the king size burger 30 000 Rp (AUS $4.00) with a coke 4 000 Rp (AUS $0.53) while I had chicken in butter sauce 25 000 Rp (AUS $3.33) and a coke. Total bill was 63 000 Rp (AUS $8.40) but as usual we just rounded it up and gave them 70 000 Rp (AUS $9.33). After dinner we headed back to our room to relax. At 9 pm (only ½ hour later) I ducked over to the Kodak shop and picked up the photos and cd. All up for transferring to cd and one set of prints for 68 photos it cost 186 000 Rp (AUS $24.80). Went back to our room had a quick look at the photos and off to bed.
Although I have now had the photos on webshots for a couple of days I wanted to wait until I got this installment of our JBR up before I told you where to find them. As we took so many photos while away I have actually put them into sections to make it easier to view them. Once you log onto our page you will find a list of albums on the left hand side of the screen. Be sure to check them all out as there are some fantastic photos if I do say so myself. I was pleasantly surprised with some of the ones we captured.
The address for the photos is
http://community.web shots.com/album/487318090fdMXrW (just close the gap between web and shots.
Cheers
Balibabe