Notes from Bali

Since my last blog I have left the familiar western serving town of Ubud to live in rural Bali with a Balinese family in their compound. The idea behind this move, for my last five weeks on the island, has been to create a more intensive working schedule with the various programmes I have been setting up to ensure they continue and have support after I leave.

As the first foreigner to stay in the village I was first required to register with the regional “intelligence” police who, by hand, drew up a list of rules I was to abide by during my stay. This has included my assistant and translator having to send an SMS to the Chief of Police at the end of the day regarding my various activities.

In contrast to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, a novel which unfolds a journey into the primitive darkness of human existence in deepest Africa, the experience of living in this secluded Balinese paradise has been a journey in simplicity,  a wisdom of people who live from the heart rather than the head, of giving and of coming into contact with the natural world.

A typical day begins with the rousing chaos of restless dogs, hens, frogs and the like which preludes the sunrise from behind a large volcano just 30 minutes away. After some Balinese sweet cakes and coffee prepared by the ever busy mother of the family its off for a morning walk through the rice fields (still being ploughed by cows) down to the holy waterfall for a shower. By the time I arrive back to the compound my first class of enthusiastic teenagers have congregated for a lesson before they begin high school.  The late morning is taken up by helping  rebuild and repaint the family temple followed by an afternoon of teaching four groups of twelve 6-9 year olds. Then before a dinner of rice and a variety of incredibly spicy Balinese dishes its either for a walk through the rice paddies hand in hand with the whole troop of village kids or perhaps a game of volleyball with the teenagers.

The days are always filled with laughter. As I write this I am just watching the father of the family I stay with chasing a chicken around the compound. So too the chorus of farting and burping resounds. The mother actually work me up the other morning with a 15 second trumpet-like passing of wind outside my door. Moreover, an extended stay has afforded an in depth experience of the cycle of Balinese life, with births and deaths affecting the family during my stay.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of the last few weeks. I’ll be back in the UK on the 6th September and I look forward to meeting up with many of you when I‘m then. I hope my work here has been worthwhile. It seems the pull of globalization requires change and for the Balinese people and I hope the children I have taught and the on-going programmes  set up with the Bali Children’s Project will be of benefit in making the transition easier.

2nd Class of the Day

Painting the Family Temple Late into the Night

A Spicy Dish to feed the Painters

Bringing Offering to the Ceremony for the finished Temple

Cooking the Pig on Ceremony Day

Cooking the Duck

My Assistant and Host Sang Made

Oldest in the Village - 91 - Is the only time he hasn't smiled