EARLIER
NEWS ITEMS
CONTENTS:
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BCP
Newsletter - 2005
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A
Balinese response to the Kuta bombings
NEWSLETTER
– December 2005
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The
Bali Children’s Project has continued to grow during the past twelve
months in diverse and exciting ways. Thanks to our
dedicated staff in Bali, and the generous help that many of you, our
sponsors and benefactors, have provided, we have much progress to
report.
sponsorships
The program supports a growing number
of deserving young people through the continuing kindness of donors.
For example, Komang, a young village girl, had excellent grades and was
a hard worker, but her family is exceptionally poor and unable to send her
beyond elementary school. In her case, the problem was made worse by
expensive transportation costs because the only school was too far away to
walk. This is a situation that we encounter all too
frequently. With the help of a sponsor she is now
flourishing in 7th Grade and taking special extra classes.
As she grows she will also get new shoes – something she couldn’t
afford before. Her life has been transformed and her future
assured.
We
have an almost limitless numbers of deserving children in need of sponsors.
In particular, we are very concerned for some 40 village children who
were being funded by an organization in Australia. Sadly
that support has been lost and the BCP is anxious to raise sufficient new
sponsorship money – approximately $12,000 - to allow these youngsters to
complete the education they had been offered.
Kindergartens
& Preschool
A primary focus of the Bali Children’s Project continues to be
preschool education, particularly for children in rural areas. Here
they have few opportunities for learning and often begin school late at a
marked disadvantage. These children, and particularly
girls, without needed support, are frequently forced to leave school early and
while still very young, begin lives of hard manual labor, working for the
benefit of others.
Through
our kindergartens, a growing number of children are discovering the joy of
learning at an early age. These children are then
ready to begin primary school and to learn to read. In addition, young
girls are provided from an early age with role models of women who are
successful professionals. This enables them to imagine for
themselves a life rich with possibilities.
If you would like to sponsor this little
girl, or one just as sweet
and eager to learn, please contact us.
This
past year we’ve been very fortunate to have a relationship with the Taman
Kanak-Kanak Bali Montessori school. The director, Nattalia Sinclaire, has
helped to connect us with a wonderful Montessori teacher, Lydia, who has
helped to instruct our own teachers. We've also received donations of
Montessori supplies through the help of Carol Engmann and her school
in Jakarta.
In addition to the original village kindergartens
in Pesagi and Tajen, we now have three new ones operating in Penestanan,
Munduk and Wanagiri, with plans for more. Early in
2006, Jack and Michael Rush of Mann Construction Company from Australia are
scheduled to begin work with the communities in Munduk and Wanagiri to extend
and improve the kindergartens in their villages that opened last year.
Projected plans call for classroom restoration and expansion, the
installation of water and electrical services, roof repairs and schoolyard
fencing and landscaping.
Art
and Supplemental learning Program
The
art classes organized by Karin Goris and April Lelia continue in the
classrooms of Penestanan,
and are proving very popular. There have also been
regular art classes in Banjarankan near Klungkung. Located
in a remote area where the children receive few educational opportunities, the
village is so poor that it receives government rice rations. Each
week the children meet for the art and supplemental learning program at the
home of Pak Mangu, the village priest.
One
of our Balinese teachers writes:
“The
art class is going well there. We have like 20 children, the age around six
until fifteen years old.Their school is little bit far away from their
village, but is not running well because they don’t have table or chair
for studying.”
Study of Children’s Art
We
have continued our association with researchers, led by Prof. Dieter Maurer at
the University in Zurich, Switzerland, collaborating in a major study of
children's art and creativity. This is centered on a
cross-cultural analysis of early graphic expression ("scribblings")
in children between the ages of 18 months and six years. The
Balinese component, through the BCP, will last for three years and form the
basis for a detailed comparison with an archive of some 25,000
"scribblings" made by European children.
Art
Party in Japan
Once
again artwork from our children has been featured at the Starship Hiroshima
Art Party in Japan. At this four-day international
event, 332 pictures from 15 countries were on display in 2005. Proceeds
from the sale of our children’s art are donated to help support the BCP art
program. We are very grateful to Adam Beck for managing
this event and for choosing the Bali Children’s Project as a deserving
organization.
Needs
May we remind you of some of our
particular needs – in addition to sponsorship and other financial support:
¨
Educational materials of every kind to be distributed to classrooms in all
grade levels in rural areas.
¨
Laptop computers (not outdated, please)
¨
Montessori based teaching and classroom materials
¨
Art materials, including: paper, paints, brushes, colored
tissue paper, fabric paint, watercolor tempera paints, eraser boards
¨
Salaries for two Montessori teachers in the
mountains who at present work without pay
¨
Salary for a teacher of traditional Balinese dance.
One of our Balinese helpers told us:
“If
we can do dance class, the children and parents will love it, so they can
have their children dance when they have ceremonies in the temple and tells
to next generation. If we could do that we just need to sponsor the teacher
every month.”
New
Website
Our two earlier websites have been
integrated and extensively revised at www.balichildrensproject.org.
Although, for technical reasons, links to one of the earlier sites can
still be found on Google and other Search Engines, we hope this potential
source of confusion will soon be rectified.
New
Director
We are very pleased to
welcome Linda Moselle Venter of New York and Penestanan to the Board of
Directors. Linda has already been working with us for several years helping to
establish kindergartens and children’s sponsorships.
It is now Linda who prim
arily runs our sponsorship program, which helps young children, especially
girls, to stay in school.
Yayasan
BCP
The
Bali Children’s Project is in the final stages of becoming registered as a yayasan
in Bali, making us a formally recognized Balinese nonprofit organization.
This marks an important step in the evolution of the Bali Children’s
Project, and reflects our close working relationship with Balinese community
leaders and organizations. I Wayan Sendana, a distinguished attorney
in Denpasar, and I Made Darsa, teacher and community leader in
Penestanan, will be the yayasan directors.
New
Office
The BCP office, in the skilled hands of
Kadek Liatini, our chief administrator and office manager, has now moved to
new quarters in the village of Penestanan on the outskirts of Ubud.
Work is in hand to build a new adjacent bale or
performance platform for music, dance and art programs. Because of its
central village location we hope to involve more of the women and young people
of the village in creative and after-school activities offered by volunteers.
The
new office in Penestanen frees our spacious house at Purna for other uses,
including teacher trainings and the accommodation of volunteers and guests.
We are also promoting the occasional rental of Purna, as well as our
mountain sanctuary at Sanda, to visitors as a means of generating additional
income for BCP programs and schools. Click
here for details.
Thanks
to our Donors
For
their exceptional generosity and continued support, special thanks to:
 | Karma
Resorts, Jimbaran for their glorious fundraising events on behalf of BCP
and their on-going generous financial donations.
|
| Darci
Forman of IC-Imports for her very generous cash donation and extensive
gifts of school materials, clothing, and toys.
|
| The
Helen Muha Memorial Trust, for a generous donation to help needy children
in the remote mountain village of Bangle in Karengasem stay in school.
|
| Kristen
Pett and the Milken Community High School, Los Angeles, for
sponsoring two students throughout their high school years and for ting
substantial school supplies and educational materials.
|
| Evelyn Crow,
Courtney Westerman and the students of Saint Mary’s Hall School, San
Antonio, Texas, for their sponsorships and donation of school materials.
|
| Rima
Xoyamayagua, of Austin, Texas, for on-going and frequent material and
financial support.
|
| Michel
Dubeau, of Los Angeles for sponsoring a child in need, for the generous
gift of a great laptop computer, and for providing the furniture for two
BCP mountain kindergartens.
|
| Rosie
Ritchison, whose devotion and persistence enabled her to locate and
sponsor a particular child in need in Lovina. Rosie
and her friends have also donated a laptop and raised money for school
furniture and teaching materials.
|
| Gary
Venter of New York for his continuing generosity, including multiple
sponsorships, three teachers salaries, classroom supplies and much else. |
| Bhanu
& family of Karma Resorts for their continuing sponsorship support. |
| John Bucher & family
for their on-going generosity. |
We
also acknowledge with gratitude the donations in cash and materials, time and
skills received from:
Anna-Marie
Stenberg, Barbara Nestorenko, Barbara Perreault, Barry & Lisa Thomas,
Berit Schuman, Cam Mitchell, Carol Scott, Carolyn Mathews, Chris Vilesak, Daniel
Thomkins, Darci Forman, Gail Baillergeau, Gloria
Alago, Gregory Kielas, Helen Murray, Herb Slater, Ilana Umansky, Jacqueline
& Tom, Jane Rich, Jen Richardson, Joyce Brobeck, Judy O’Brien, Karl
Wichmann, Kathi Dillinger, Kathleen Pennington,
Kingsley-Goddard family, Lesley Wood, Lilia Scott, Ling
Hung-chung, Lydia & Gerard Spijk, Lynn Stiegler, Marcia Robinson,
Marianne Reiner, Margariet Smit, Marla Clark, Mary
Crowley and Colleen Carlston, Matt & Becca Paiss, Maureen Schat, Melvin
& Jacqueline, Ray & Anne Poirier, Rebecca Saeleo, Robert
Belcher, Robert Moselle, Roger & Monique Mendelson, Sherry Walters,
Shirley Brown, Stefanie Stark & Kalden
& Juliya Dan, Steven S. Wise Temple,
Tara Heron, Tara Timinski, Therisia, Tom & Juanita Coddington, Wendy
Bartlett
Volunteers
The BCP volunteer program is now
smaller and more focused. We accept only experienced
teachers or people with other special skills, who are prepared to make a
significant commitment to our programs. Recent volunteers
include:
|
Gloria Alago from New York,
who introduced Balinese teachers to a new way of teaching mathematics.
This is now being used in a growing number of classrooms.
|
|
Mary Knapp from San
Francisco, an experienced teacher who is currently teaching music in
schools in Bali and providing music education to Balinese teachers.
|
|
Margriet Smit from the
Netherlands, a Montessori teacher who helped to train our Balinese
teachers in Montessori methods.
|
