Now i dont bother with my spelling or grammer but do try to do the best ok.
We had organised to take 65 children & 14 staff members to the Bali Zoo for the day & have finally got around to posting this event.
The day out with children was fantastic, we had 16yr olds & adults who had never been to zoo & the excitement showed.
Even the bus ride was exciting for them. We were even amazed with the buses as they were very good price & for 1 million rupiah for 2 large air conditioned luxury buses we did ok!
We turned into this narrow road to the orphanage, we were surrounded by a sea of smiling faces, i was scared we would run over one of the little kids as they had no fear of the car so we ended up stopping & walking the short way to the orphanage.
With shouts of "Good Day Mate"& what seemed like a hundred questions at once, we didnt know where to look. Then with the clap of hand & a firm voice broke through, the children soon quieten down quickly & we were met by the director of Tunas Bangsa,Dr H Muhsan Effendi who is a very kind caring person who provides the children with food,shelter, education and love he was at the time very ill with a heart condition & had got out of bed to greet us on our arrival,due to his health he wasnt able to stay & we assurred him it was ok & we werent offended & were happy to deal with the staff, we wished him a speedy recovery & our blessing.
We needed to wait while prayer finished. I decided while we waited to try out some indonesian with the small group of children who had already finished prayer & asked what was there name, well that caused them to let rip with a stream of questions & a blank stare from me!! so i decided to tell them my name & after some giggles & questioned looks from them we managed to exchange small talk. We were amazed the smallest child their was a bundle of energy,we were advised he did not stop from the time of waking to time to go to bed & had to be constantly watched as he didnt seem to understand the word dangerous which was indicated by the large egg shaped lump on his head from a previous fall, he was 4 or 5 years old & was deserted by his parents (unknown) & not wanted. He had the most melting smile & my heart went out to him. Yayuk pointed out children & explained there back ground until i had to stop her as my heart was breaking & i burst into tears, the stories behind these children are just unbelievable & i can only admire the staff who have given these children the love & attention they so deserve.
Then came the gifts, which caused them to mob us they just couldnt contain themselves anymore, if anyone has met the organiser of Bali Kids - Yayuk, she is a very petite young lady but one not to be ignored & one firm DUDUK from her had the children sitting cross legged hands in lap & not a word spoken.
After we had given out the presents which sent me & Daryl on a few trips to the car to collect more gear,(& to gather our emotions as it is a roller coaster to see 60 children up-pack there gifts & run up & thankyou for so little)the boys loved the cars ( a thankyou to the Salvation army at Modbury Square who donated toys & especially as we were able to get kigangs well what looked like them anyway,also we had got glossy pictures from Holdens (daughters fiance works for Holdens) of their latest cars & laminated them for everyone & pictures of Australian wildlife & flowers,most of the girls came out of their rooms wearing the flower tieholds we gave them, & we were able to give each a toy of sorts also & we had covered exercise books & did drawings of Australian scene & wildlife on the cover. Thanks to Cheap as Chips who gave me a set of coloured pencils for each child & over 100 tennis balls to give.
When it was time to leave for the Zoo, a little boy became
very upset , after much crying & refusing to go we found the cause of his distress, he hadn't received a gift like this before & was worried it wouldn't be their when we returned, so he was allowed to bring his car with him & was assured the remainder would be
looked after while he was away, once satisfied this was the case he was happy to board the bus.
Just to mention also with our visit there was a little girl there who wouldn't smile, we tried everything, then after the gifts were given out & we were getting everyone ready for the buses, Daryl felt this little hand slip into his & when he looked down their was this little girl with the most beautiful smile ever, well that was enough to bring us both to tears again,(felt like i was balling all day!!) during our day at the zoo, she would run back to us with this Hugh smile & look of amazement on her face.
We were told she didn't smile very often & even staff were happy to see the transformation on this shy little girl.
A funny moment was when we got to the orangatang cage, a few of the young children were looking from the orang & then to my Husband & then back again, once I gathered what they were thinking I managed to indicate in broken Indonesia that Daryl was the brother of the Orangatang, (being of a very large build with a beard)which brought about much laughter from the elder children & looks of amazement from the young children it was very funny. (well I thought so, once I explained it to Daryl he made out he wasn't impressed but saw the funny side of it & added to their delight when he acted like the monkeys)
Both Children & staff asked us many questions when we got to the Australian animals in the zoo & Yuyuk couldn't believe we ate our National emblems - Emu & just about every other animal I did explain the koala was safe & we didnt eat that,also which Daryl took much delight explaining about the ferocious crocodiles & all our deadly snakes/spiders to oohs & ahhs from the staff & children.
Once we got to the zoo, the children went in every direction & sent the carers into a spin, but there was no need to worry every second a group would come running back to get one of us to look at something they had found & with each group they managed to have someone with them & also the zoo staff were fantastic in explaining to the children about conservation & getting the children involved with answering questions put to them about what they can do to help look after the environment & the staff also explained to the children about the animals.
Towards the end of the day we needed to get all the children together to get onto the buses, as they were spread from one end of the zoo to the other that I said "will be easy", I went off to the shop & asked for 75 ice-cream, with which the 2 young girls behind the counter looked at each other & then at me & asked was that 5 I wanted & once she realised I did want 75 she rushed off to get the manager, who with a big smile quickly got together after sourcing 3 freezers for the right amount.
He looked at us & asked if we like ice-cream with which Daryl responded no we have a lot of children.
An Australian couple who were waiting to be served politely asked us how many children we had & it was hard not to burst out laughing when we told them 60, the look on their face was priceless.
Once we got a few ice-cream out the word quickly spread around the zoo & within mins we had all children accounted for & not a word was to be heard just the slurp of them eating their ice-cream.
What touched me was we did need to explain to a little boy it was best to eat his ice-cream as he couldn't take it back with him as there would be nothing left, he had though of the director back their who was ill & couldn't come on the trip.
There are plenty of privileged children who could learn a lot from these children , even a fraction of what these children endure couldn't be comprehended by most.
All in all - that one day made it the best experience I have every had on a holiday & the love & feeling we felt from these beautiful, gentle & innocent children left us on a high for the remainder of our stay in Bali.
We were left emotionally spent by the end of the day, & humbled as each child came to us & thanked us & passed on blessing to us, the trip back to our hotel was spent in silence as we reflected on the days event.
We also managed to stock up on toiletries & many items from there wishlist which the director gave to us on our arrival.All clothes & shoes were delivered to the children & the toys & gifts were opened with so much excitement.
The expirence we got out of this i have no words to describe it.The only downer,We did expirence difficulties from Customs when we arrived in Bali who even with letter supplied from carry for kids was ignored (which he didnt even seem interested in) he indicated that he was going to go through everything but I had to leave it with him & also he advised some of the things may need to be taken, but I was firm with him & advised that there was nothing there for him & I was within my rights to bring it in, I also advised that I would be reporting this, if I am hassled any further, once he knew I meant business he was quick to make sure I got through without any further interruption, I also explained it was the first I had heard I needed an authority letter from someone in Bali to bring the gear in,to which he advised was a new rule, (which he couldn't clarify who it was I needed the letter from) I also advised him if he didn't mind waiting I was going to ring the director in Bali for Bali Kids & speak to them about his conduct & to clarify what he was saying was correct, that he backed off very quickly.
I offered for us to leave the gear there & return within 24hrs with letter & to collect but i made it quiet clear, everything was recorded & that when i collect everything must be there & i wanted a receipt for it, I let him know i wasnt going to pay him off
to get it in. No problem then he advised didnt need to look at gear & wished us a good holiday!
All in All i have already started planning my next fund raiser so will be looking for helper again as i am going to run the BBQ sizzle again to raise money for our trip in April & a big thankyou to the people who helped me make this a huge success - Roy & Jean (Bali Bob)who gave guidence & knowledge & who have helped for years to support the orphanages in Bali, to Heather who from the forum had got clothes & shoes for me to take over & made a donation also, to Maria who assisted with the BBQ & the many other people/companies who answered my appeal & who assisted ,also thanks to Brenton Whitaker director of Carry for Kids who put up with my constant emails!! also to Helen Flavel who we were fortunate to be on the same fight over & back & to share her thoughts & knowledge on the wonderful work her organisation has done for the people of Bali, i apoligize now if i have missed anyone.
The sadness we feel from the recent bombing only pushes me to do what we can to help these people through what can only be a devastating blow to there livelyhood, after 3 years they were trying to pick up the pieces, now this, it will be a long long road back to convincing people to return to Bali.
Please take the opportunity to help you will find it the highlight of your trip & understand why people do this.
Will try to post the remainder of our trip later as we also re-married on this trip & that in itself is a story.