In Reply to: Apache Reggae Club posted by ODubh on Saturday, 6. December 2008 at 16:32 Bali Time:
I think there is a lot of low salaries in Bali and we cannot apply our own values to their culture and make the judgements that you are in your post. It is worth remembering that we arent all squeaky clean in Australia when it comes to exploiting people. Do you make purchases that are socially responsible and which have not ripped off any people from a third world country or were made from a sweat shop in one of the Australian cities where people also work for relatively little more that the Apache staff. Do you purchase food items and coffee with a social conscience?
I would love to say I do but I don't on every occasion albeit that I do try.
The staff working at Apache have an income and at least can contribute to the family pool where some others dont have any income. By not going to apache we will in fact hurt the people you want to protect.
On a final note - is your information factual? As much as I love the Balinese they are experts in telling you how hard done by they are in the hope you will give them more and sometimes they do exaggerate. I am aware of this but always tip significantly and I am happy to do so with or without a hard luck story!