Thought I would tell you all about this visit, as further down there has been a bit of talk about this subject.
Recently, we decided to sponsor a child thru the Helen Flavel Foundation. Just before we left for Bali in early January, we got news that a little boy, Gede, had been chosen. He is the youngest of 4 boys, and he is 11 years old. So we planned a visit to him about 3 days after we arrived. One of Helen's drivers picked us up at 8am from our hotel. My parents, (in their 60's), also have a little boy they sponsor, so we tied the two visits together, took two cars, and we all went up together. I had heard so much about Pacung Indah, that I wanted to stop and visit. It was about 1hr or so out of Sanur (where we were staying), and what a beautiful spot it is. It is so clean, the staff were lovely. Didn't get to try the food on the way up but the milkshakes the kids had, and the tea's and coffee's we had were just like we make them at home.
We also stopped in Git Git at a supermarket to pick up a 25kg bag of rice for each family. It took about another hour or so to make our way to Singaraja. What a beautiful windy road it is to get there. Enjoyed every minute of the trip and the kids didn't whinge at all. We had our 5 and 7 yr olds in our car and my parents had my 12yr old in their car. I think the gecko they found at David and Moira's (the one they held and took photo's of) kept their minds off the long journey. They love the gecko's. Anyway, we pulled into the Helen Flavel Learning Centre and Nyoman (the man in charge) was there to greet us. He showed us around the centre. They have a lovely resource type centre, with loads of books etc. Then we went into the kindy type area, full of toys and puzzles and the walls were covered with all the sorts of charts and things that you would see at any kindy. Met the teacher, she was lovely. Then we went into the big classrooms, and finally into the computer room. From what I understand, the children go to their own schools, and then can go to the Learning Centre after school for further education. It is a wonderful facility that all the staff are obviously very proud of.
Next, it was off to meet Gede at school. Nyoman came in our car. It was only about a 10 minute drive. We walked in through the gates and the kids all came out of their class rooms to check us out (there was 7 of us in all). We were taken into a teacher's room and we met the principal, and then Gede came in. He is a beautiful little boy. Very small for his age. He was about the same size as my 7yr old. He didn't speak any english. But my 12yr old daughter has been doing Indonesian at school since yr 3, so she could converse with him quite well. We then went back into Gede's classroom, and met his teacher and all the other students. While we were in the classroom, every window was convered in gorgeous little faces with their noses squished up against the window watching every move we made. Nyoman asked Chelsea (12) to introduce her family to the class and teacher, in Indonesian, which she did. From grandma and grandad, to mum and dad, right through to younger sisters. She did so well. I was very proud of her. Gede had 13 kids in his class. The school playground was just dirt. My 7yr old couldnt believe that they had no grass and no playground/swings. It was at that point that I knew they might begin to understand how lucky they are. I thought before we left that this trip to Singaraja might be a bit lost on the 5yr old, but I think she even realised how different things are. Anyway, we waved goodbye to Gede, and told him we would see him at his house when he finished school at 12.30pm.
We then went to my parents sponsor childs school. I won't go into the details, as this is getting really long already, but we did the same introductions and took lots of photo's, and then we took Komang in our car to his house as by this time it was 12.30pm and his school day was over. I could not believe how far this 8year old boy had to walk every day to and from school. It was unbelievable. We just kept going and going and going. Then Nyoman said, as the car stopped, "We will have to walk from here". So we followed him down this dirt track, where we came to an opening, and we met Komang's mum and dad and aunt. What lovely people they were. Within 5 minutes of being their, the mum had chopped down some Rambutan's herself, and served them to us, and the father had chopped down some coconuts, popped in a straw and given us those. Their house was made of bricks, there were window holes (but no glass), and just a mattress on the floor for them to sleep on. They had a few chooks roaming around, and a motorbike. Those people touched my heart within about 2 minutes of meeting them. My parents gave Komang the things they had bought for him and his family, and the whole visit was over in about 15 minutes. I don't think any of us spoke in our car on the way to Gede's house, as we were just absorbing our experiences.
Next........... Gede's visit