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Hi and welcome to the report page for our August 2010 Bali trip. Four of us made the trip to Bali, as it turned out My wife Nici couldn’t go so I took my youngest boy Thomas along with my sister Leanne and her 13 year old Daughter Cassie We arrived on the 11th of August jumped in our pre arranged shuttle and headed off to Sanur where we would spend 3 nights. The 2 orphanages we visited in Denpasar where about a 40 minute taxi ride from Sanur and about a third of the way in between was the supermarket where Kylie from Mercy Indonesia suggested we purchase the supplies for the kids, this proved to be the best option as we could get all the food, schoolbooks, games and toys in the one centre. We did 2 separate trips one for each orphanage on 2 consecutive days, we decided this was the best option as we were in taxis with a boot that could only fit supplies for one orphanage at a time. So we hailed a cab in Sanur (not hard because every second car on the road is a taxi) and got the first taxi to the shopping centre, did all the shopping which took about 2 hours each day, loaded everything into undersized shopping trolleys got assistance getting the trolleys down the escalators hailed another taxi loaded everything into the boot and set off in the general direction of the orphanage. The first day we visited the seeds of hope children’s home which has approx 60 children of all ages, unfortunately the children were on an outing at the beach so we only got to see a few of the older girls that stayed back to organize dinner for that night, we did meet boingo the baby monkey which was a highlight for Cassie and Tom.

The next day we followed the same plan as the day before 2 taxis to the orphanage and 1 taxi back to Sanur with a boot load of supplies. The second orphanage was one of the 2 Mercy Indonesia children’s homes in Bali which has 11 children ranging in age from 11 through to 19, the majority of the kids were from Timor who had come out of the refugee camps and some of the others are from extremely poor families from Bali. We got to spend an hour with them and they entertained us with a couple of songs they have a full band and are mostly self-taught musicians and very talented. The kids day starts at 5am and the school week is 6 days in Bali with an early start and an early finish so the kids are kept pretty busy they also grow their own veges and everyone pitches in and helps out with the daily running of the home.

For the next three days we basically chilled out except for the bits where I was driving our hire car in the madness that is Bali by road, I was fine, but my passengers were terrified, but by the time we had driven across to the other side of Bali and back I was hip to the Bali road rules which is make up your own. On the 16th of August we headed across the mountains to Singaraja on the North coast where we would visit the second of the Mercy Indonesia children’s homes. On the night we arrived we met some of the, beach traders outside our motel, one guy called Rocky new a friend of a cousin who had an uncle who's Brother had a shop and he could organize us the supplies we needed to take to the orphanage so the following morning I hopped on the back of Rockies moped and headed off to do a deal in Rice and noodles. We managed to get all the food at the little corner store but had to find a larger supermarket to buy the Hygiene products and schoolbooks. So once again we loaded up our trolleys with stuff, loaded up the back of the Avanza (a small version of a Tarago) and headed off to the orphanage, this time we were on our own with some fairly vague directions from the security guard from the shop, so once again we got lost, but the key is to drive 200 meters ask directions turn around drive another 200 meters ask again until finally you narrow it down to a block and eventually you find what your looking for. The orphanage at Singaraja has 8 children 3 boys 5 girls 2 house parents and 1 helper once again most of the kids have been rescued from the Timor refugee camp and 1 girl being an orphan from Singaraja. The boys have a great guitar teacher called Esther who also helps out at the orphanage and the boys and Esther played us a couple of tunes sung in Indonesian by the girls.

Thanks to everyone who made purchases from the lifewell and frogsplayground websites it was your 10% that helped put some food on the table of some kids less fortunate than most of us and you could tell from their smiles that they were most appreciative.  Check out the photos below. And a list of products purchased for each orphanage.

Seeds Of Hope

30 toothbrushes, 12 tubes toothpaste, 15 roll on deodorant, 15 bottles of shampoo, 30 cakes of soap, 25 kg rice, 4 kg sugar, 20 large packets noodles, 12 liters vegetable oil, 60 ruled schoolbooks, 30 lead pencils, 2 boxes colored pencils, 30 rules, 2 geometry sets, 1 x 4 in 1 board game set, 2 decks playing cards, 2 tennis rackets, 10 tennis balls, 2 badminton rackets, 1 tin of shuttle cocks, 1 soccer ball, 1 basketball.

Mercy Indonesia Denpasar

11 toothbrushes, 10 tubes toothpaste, 11 roll on deodorants, 11 bottles of shampoo, 20 cakes of soap, 25 kg rice, 8 liters vegetable oil, 20 large packets noodles, 4kg sugar, 30 ruled exercise books, 11 rules, 2 boxes lead pencils, 2 boxes colored pencils, 2 geometry sets, 1 soccer ball, 1 basketball, 1 4in 1 board game set, 

Mercy Indonesia Singaraja

8 toothbrushes, 8 tubes toothpaste, 20 cakes of soap, 8 roll on deodorants, 10 bottles shampoo, 50 kg rice, 4 kg sugar, 2 boxes instant noodles, 20 ruled exercise books, 2 boxes lead pencils, 1 box colored pencils, 20 ruled exercise books, 2 sketch pads, 10 rules.