In Reply to: school sponsorship posted by frazzledfozzle on Thursday, 27. December 2007 at 12:37 Bali Time:
Hi Frazz,
providing somebody else an education is certainly the best way to break the circle of poverty - point.
I'm also sponsoring two kids via Helen Flavel Foundation - not a big thing so far and to tell you the truth, I spend here in one week the same amount of money for cigarettes as it takes to send a kid to school for a year in Bali.
Now your worries:
Different people will do have different opinions about what is appropriate to do or not, another important point is, how people will react when creating a personal relationship to the families of their sponsored kids, this has been already controversy discussed a hundred times here, so let me tell you something from my personal experience.
Most of these families are living under circumstances, that you first have to see to understand, they don't benefit at all from tourism, in fact it's more the opposite, for unskilled labourers it's harder to find jobs on Bali, the prices and also the wages are higher in Bali than on Java or other islands, so seasonal workers from Java are pushing in their traditional jobs.
Many of these families are struggling day by day for the basics of life, so a sack of rice can make a big difference to them.
When sponsors are coming to visit, they recognise the misery and many of them like to provide some additional support and here starts the problem.
Everybody has a personal limit somewhere, this financial limit might differ a lot and sometimes due a lack of knowledge about the realities some people might develop a kind of Santa Clause attitude.
The sponsor organisation can hardly forbid giving presents, sometimes people are resistant to listen and in the intention to provide 'their' kids something special also useless and insane gifts are provided.
I consider my sponsorship as a kind of 'investment' in the future of these kids, the focus should be to improve the living conditions and the ability to achieve a better life, but this is a contribute to the whole community and should not be focused on one single person.
Balinese social life is all about the community, the Balinese staffs there knows the best the people, they know their needs, they know the best what is appropriate for them and what is not, they know how to handle this under consideration of Banjar life and how to integrate the whole community in this.
For all those who think sponsoring is a kind of competition, please stop wasting money for useless things, you wont impress anybody with this - especially not any Balinese.
Sometimes people are rather disappointed about Balinese reactions due to her precious gifts, but you don't make a hype when you give a present and you don't earn huge gratefulness for receiving a gift - not on Bali.
It is simply a traditional way of life to share with the community - a basic for social life.
There are no expectations from Balinese side and for a useless Ipod another kid could have send to school.
When I come to Bali and visit my kids there, I have an amount of money in my mind to provide them some extra, so I leave it to Nyoman Sukadana how and for what to spend this money.
Let's say for the entrance fee of the bird park for a family of 4 people, you can get food for a Balinese family for three months and some other stuff on the local market and although I know this must be like Christmas for them, there is a hand shake and then the topic is done, I also know that 30 min after I will leave the village half of the stuff will be already given away to other families and that's just fine - they need it too.
Best regards
Thorsten