Bali Life Newsletter
October - December 2015
Children’s Home
We welcome three new children to our children's home in October. We have five children currently waiting sponsorship in our children's home. Visit our
webpage to find out more about our scholarship scheme and contact us if you would like to partner with us in this way.
During November, some of our children had the opportunity to perform in the local Banjar. It was a great experience for them to share the stage with other local kids and be a blessing to the community.
Christmas
In December, several of our children had the opportunity to sing at Christmas Carols Competition in Pullman Hotel. They won 3rd place! Congratulations to the kids who performed in this event and thank you to Pullman Hotel for this experience for our children.
Donations, Fundraisers and Visitors
Thank you to Berni Weber Specs, Jakarta for donating 50 new pairs of school shoes and supporting our children's education in this way. Thank you to Linda from HongKong who came and hung out with our kids, and gave them unique face paintings. Please visit her on
www.faceslaphk.com.
A huge thank you goes to Pilgrim School for running a cake stall in your school and raising an amazing $1000AU. This will be so helpful for running costs of our Children’s Home. Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you again to the amazing team from Little Miracles for coming in October and teaching our children and women in the Children’s Home at their school, Women’s Centre and Street Centre. Thank you for always bringing fresh ideas, resources and fun and sowing into the lives of our children and staff.
Safe Communities
We had a visit from “
Komunitas Aman” (Safety Community) to our children’s home. They taught our children about personal safety and some skills for staying safe from sexual abuse and assault. This training and seminar helps our children acknowledge the importance of self defence and preventive action. We are so grateful to Komunitas Aman for teaching our children about personal safety.
Farm
Our Farm is flourishing and giving much produce supplying our home with meats, eggs and vegetables through our sustainability program. During December, we were able to bless some of our neighbours with pigs and other products from our farm. It is great when we can give to others around us.
Women’s Centre
The Women’s Centre continues to provide clothing, fresh vegetables, English, sewing and craft, computer classes to the local children and women in the community. The Centre is a place women and children meet together to learn and make friends, relax and have fun. Our community programs continue to grow as more and more people learn about our Centre. We currently have one young woman who was homeless living in the house.
English in Schools
Since October we have been able to provide English lessons to a local school in Year 4, 5 and 6. Over 70 children each week have had lessons with two of our volunteers, Auke and Suzanne. This is the same school that two children attend sponsored by Bali Life. The principal was very happy for our support and we look forward to placing volunteers at the school next year.
Happy Birthday Women’s Centre
Our second birthday celebration in November was a wonderful afternoon. We had over 120 local people attend the Centre. The children performed, singing and dancing alongside our volunteer teachers. Some of the women sang a duet and we watched videos of women who have had their lives changed through the classes they attend at the Centre. The children had face painting and games after a lovely afternoon meal. We were able to acknowledge the many volunteers who have been volunteering with us, both Indonesian and from overseas.
Christmas Dinner
The second weekend in December we provided a free Christmas meal for five of our local poor families. The families were each chosen and invited specially to the meal at the Centre. One of the highlights of the day was that some of the local women who come to the Centre volunteered to prepare and cook the whole meal. They came in the morning to make sure everything was ready for the families. Then cleaned up afterwards. Vegetables came from the Women’s Centre garden and the chickens from Bali Life Farm. Local people helping local people. All the families had a great time and were given presents as they left. We hope to continue a monthly meal for other poor families in 2016.
Volunteers and Donations
We welcomed Heather as a new volunteer to our Women’s Centre. She has had many wonderful craft classes with the women and children. In December she provided handmade Christmas decorations which transformed the house from plain to Wow!! Thank you Heather for giving months of creative work. Thank you also to Colleen Hodge for all the makeup donated from Australia to bless our women. Thank you also to the KRIK team for financial aid to buy a new water pump, donating towards our Christmas meal, painting walls in the house and providing beautiful plants for our indoor garden.
Street Centre
Over the past three months, the street centre has seen a growth in the women and children attending our centre. Each day we can have between 20 and 30 children varying from 2 years old up to 15 years old. The children come each day and receive education, fun activities, breakfast and lunch and a safe place for being. Our women’s workshop has also grown with twelve women coming to our centre each day. The women can work from morning until afternoon making different handicrafts to earn a wage to support their families and grow in skills. If you have any crafts or items you would like to support our women with, please contact our centre manager, Gregoria,
greg@balilife.org to discuss partnering with our Women’s Workshop.
Donations
Thank you to everyone who comes alongside our Street Centre bringing in donations and resources to help our children grow skills and education. We’d like to appreciate Petr and his Green Books team for fundraising and donating many new books in Bahasa Indonesia about the world and how we can look after the environment. We also want to say thank you to Sarah West from Port Macquarie for running a fundraiser and donating two new laptops to help our children grow computer skills in this technological world.
Water Park
Our Street Centre children and mums had the opportunity for a day out in Canggu Splash water park in November. Thank you to Kim, Kerri, Natalie, Katie and Lee for arranging our day, photography and transportation. Our day began and ended with joyous smiles as these kids and mums were blessed with a fun day they otherwise may never had been able to experience. We really appreciate everyone who helped make this happen.
Kerri Barrie
We had a combined Christmas and farewell for Kerri in December as the women and children farewelled Kerri Barrie, who has been supporting our Women’s Workshop over the past year. Kerri has had such an impact, teaching and supporting our women as they learn some amazing skills in handicrafts and also always giving many hugs to our kids whenever she visits. We wish you the best in your new journey, Kerri, and we are so grateful for what you have done for our centre. Some of our women were also treated to a day out in a salon and enjoyed their time of pampering. Thank you Kerri for arranging all of this, as well as the gifts for our children and mums at your Christmas party.
Horse Riding Experience
At the time the women were out being pampered, seven of our kids were out having a fun experience at Canggu Stable and learning how to care for horses and also riding on horses through some riding trails. Thank you to Linda for arranging this for our kids, we look forward to more opportunities like this for our kids in the future.
Christmas
Every week the Norwegian team from KRIK Bible School come and volunteer their time at the Street Centre, helping in classes and teaching English. Two weeks ago, another team, also from Norway, joined with them and treated our kids and mums to a Christmas party. The kids were filled with excitement as they played games, danced, had photos in the photo booth, and a special visit from Santa. Thank you to everyone who participated in various ways to make this possible, giving our kids and mums a special Christmas experience.
Thank you to Ansue and Karina for inviting our Street Centre children to attend the Sanur International School Christmas Event. Our kids had a great afternoon with rock climbing, Christmas cookie decorating, soccer, and a plate spinning experience. Thank you also for providing dinner and giving our kids a fun afternoon out.
Twice a month, the Flux team comes and visits our Street Centre. They run various activities such as craft, dance, photography or cooking with our kids and during these past months, the older kids have had some time learning to play pianikas. In December, nine of our children were given the opportunity to perform "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" playing pianikas or singing at ICC charity event. Thank you to Rino, Sisi and the Flux teams for sowing into our children, and thank you to ICC for providing this experience and helping our children grow in their skills and confidence.
Christmas on the Streets
Each year we go down to the streets in December and meet the women and children whom we connect with throughout the year to give them a special Christmas experience. Some of the older children from our Children’s Home, as well as our amazing volunteers help on this day to prepare gift packs, share stories of hope, and the Christmas Story with the women and children on the streets. Thank you to Ibu Lala for donating for our Christmas gifts and towels for the children, Yvonne for donating t-shirts, and the fundraising team from Amsterdam for providing food for the children and mums. We were able to bless almost fifty children, plus their mothers through your generosity.
