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Published: July 15th 2006
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We arrived in Denpasar somewhat exhausted with the plane having been delayed 4 hours in Sydney. We were met by WKP and taken out for dinner before the drive up toward GitGit. Luckily we were staying on top of the mountain, near the lakes, so it was not as far as we had thought it would be. Daylight revealed our room overlooked the most beautiful golf course, with the mists swirling around the mountain opposite. It was really cool weather wise and at night I needed wool jersey and long trousers.
We headed off to Gitgit - up the mountain and down the otherside. Our first stop was school #3 to see what had happened to the library books. They had fixed the room regarding broken roof, but it was still quite dirty. However the books were definately being read, the children could take up to 5 out at a time. What was really exciting was that there reading had improved greatly and it was reflected in their annual national school exams. The results had just arrived. They are still short of books for older children since the poorer children might be 15 years old and we hadn't realised when
buying. 9 children of the top class were going on to Junior High - the remaining children would have to leave since their parents couldn't afford to send them on.
We were introduced to school #4, which is the one WKP has identified as needing the most help. Could see why. The classes didn't have enough desks for the number of children, one class had such big holes in the roof they had to send the children home when the rains came. Again filthy toilets and classrooms.
We are now going to get books for all the schools, with strings attached - like clean the school. We will also patch the roof of #4 school. It is all quite exciting especially some of the ideas Jeremy and Paul came up with regarding improving the earning capacity of the village. We saw where Michelle stayed and there was a display of local handicraft - got some good ideas there too. They grow some interesting herbs and spices in the village, like vanilla, tumeric and of course cloves. The air was heavy with the scent as big piles dried in the village. Later we went right down to the sea
and looked at an orphanage which is doing great things for its children.
Next day was visiting health clinics and was more in Michelle's area of expertise. Her friend, Mardi, who speaks really good English, lost her baby at birth. We are hoping she will now be in a position to help with the teaching of English in the village. She is one of the cadres, who help with preschool health in the area. They are amazing women.
We sat through a long meeting of village elders as WKP discussed issues in the village such as improving the water supply. Paul gave his ideas regarding coffee production and how more money could come to the growers by forming co-operatives. His knowledge is fantastic.
Wednesday morning was a rest time so the guys played golf and I walked the 18 holes. More than 7 kms. They had a caddy each which was quite entertaining, but they soon got the hang of it and Paul got lots of technical advice. There are 200 odd caddies who are working in rotation - they are getting just one round a week, there are so few tourists around. Seemed to be mainly
Japanese at the hotel all playing golf but not many of them.
The afternoon was Sudamo taking us to Blimbingsari. The drive was fantastic. We went back up the mountain but turned left at the top and came down a ridge for miles. Everywhere there was intensive agriculture, mainly cloves at the top, but also flowers and fruit. The houses were solid and the villages were lined with small flowering trees in pots. Looked a very prosperous area. Everywhere the views dropped in all directions. Lower down the rice paddy fields started. All stages of growth, huge flocks of ducks cleaning up after the harvest. New flooded fields being hand planted.
We followed the coastline west right around to the south coast again and up into Blimbingsari and joined Dinari people. Stayed in a neat house with the local pastor. Didn't realize we were being set up to put money into a tourist venture. We had already said we weren't interested. Any way saw small businesses that we appear to be supporting through super bank and ladies who last time we were in the area, had one or two pigs, but now had 5 or more. Richard joined
us there and more ideas came from the new furniture business. He is very interested in furniture design. The village is very concerned about the loss of numbers and being the only Christian village in Bali, it is important for them to continue without being amalgamated with another village. Their school is losing numbers and the young people have gone to the city. We did come up with some quite good suggestions, even if I say it myself. Some of it is up to them and we could also link the school with one in Auckland.
Once back at Legian, not far from Kuta, it was days of meetings but great ideas were being generated and WKP had done a considerable amount of work. We did manage a trip to Ubud and enjoyed baba gooling, as per last time, Nick! Had one whole day of lying by the pool and caught a bit of sun. Walked around at night - saw the memorial to the first bombing. Our last night we watched the sunset and had fish in Jimbyan Bay, not the same place as with Nick.
All in all a very positive time and it was great
OSH nightmare
Making planks of wood with ancient saw mill. travelling with Michelle and Paul. We were also fortunate in travelling to be sitting in the business class seats for the long flight. The advantages of Qantas club. Now my body clock is telling me I should be up, when it is pretty late in Auckland. Like 2am. There is 4 hours difference. Cat was pleased to see us. The deck has been resurfaced and is now in the middle of being water proofed, with the tiler coming tomorrow.
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