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BCP NEWS
The
2009 BCP Newsletter is now available. Click to view.
The 2008 newsletter
is still available and can be seen by clicking
here.
NEWSLETTER – summer 2007
The Bali Children’s Project, together with the schools and children we
serve, continues to grow and flourish.
We are particularly grateful to all of you who have so generously
supported our work and enabled us to expand our services and help ever more
children. We are happy to
announce that the BCP is now formally recognized as an Indonesian yayasan
(non-profit), in addition to our non-profit (501c3) status in the United
States.
 BCP
has thus far started six village kindergartens, the latest in Tanggkup, in an
impoverished region of rural Karengasem province.
In addition, through the generosity of a local Balinese Construction
Company. we have been able rebuild and expand derelict school buildings in
several communities.
Our
volunteer program has been very active and continues to attract dedicated
individuals prepared to donate their time and energies to benefit
communities around Bali. In
particular we should mention Diane & Elliot Parkhill from San Francisco,
who not only taught math, but helped children in Penestanan to create
beautiful murals - a new art form for Bali.
Mary Knapp, who was with us for six months, broke new ground by
working with our veterinarian friend Bayu on remote Nusa Penida Island to
introduce the first English language classes there.
Thank you to Esther & Günter Golde for setting up an ESL program
and many thanks to Faye Munn who has been an outstanding contributor to our village children,
devoting many months to teaching English every day in the local school. The
children grew to love her as she did them and we are all very grateful for
her time and help. To all our volunteers, including those too numerous to
mention by name, we offer our most sincere thanks for all your work.
 Through
the BCP, Prof. Dieter Maurer
from Zurich is continuing his comparative study of the early development of
artistic expression in young children in different cultures.
Assisted by Nyoman Witama of BCP, he has been working with Balinese
children from urban and rural environments in both Ubud and Munduk
We
are pleased to welcome Wayan Sudiadnyana to the BCP board as Director of
Education in Bali. Wayan
Sedana will continue to represent the BCP as our legal council in Bali.
We also welcome Pam Weatherford and Andy Pollock of San Francisco to
the parent board in California. Andy
brings his valuable legal expertise to the BCP.
Our
wonderful Office Manager, Kadek Liatini, who already carries a heavy load,
has created an extremely successful and well received pre-kindergarten which
serves Penestanan and several near-by villages. This is enabling 3 and 4
year olds to start their education at an extremely nominal cost and the
children and their parents are thrilled. Because formal education in Bali
starts at age 7 officially in the first grade, both the pre-K and the
kindergartens have been very important. Kadek is also finishing her college
education herself, as well as working with BCP.
Nyoman
Witama continues to teach English and provide support to kindergarten
teachers in Munduk and Wanagiri.
Through the initiative of director Linda Moselle, the BCP held
workshops with the Oral-B Corporation to bring dental care to school
children in Bali. We are now working in conjunction with a local dentist to
provide dental education in the early years and to treat children who are
sponsored through BCP. We are
actively seeking volunteers with dental hygiene skills to work with us to
bring this much-needed service to more communities.
Karin Goris, our Art Director, is now working as a guide in Indonesia
and other parts of SE Asia, but continues to promote BCP from afar.
We look forward to her eventual return to us. .
The BCP volunteer’s house at Purna will shortly be used to train
young people in computer technology and repair, thereby providing future job
opportunities.
Sponsorship of needy children has always been a high BCP priority,
and we always have more children than sponsors.
In addition to our ongoing individual sponsorship program, a fund has
recently been established to provide special scholarships for qualified
children who complete 6th grade
and again for children completing 9th grade.
We
continue to be overwhelmed by the generosity and commitment of our sponsors,
donors and volunteers. To all
of you we extended our deepest thanks and appreciation.
Several donations have been made recently on behalf of grandchildren
and other family members. Jacqueline Gourbeau from France has donated her time and
talent to photographing and filming our pre-schools and kindergartens.
Rima, from Texas, has been very active, teaching workshops,
collecting supplies and fundraising.
 We
hesitate to identify specific gifts, but three recent donations were so
original and so generous as to warrant special mention.
Hank Swann and Jan Sells, who volunteered with BCP earlier in the
year, have returned to California and set up a fund through Caring Habits
[CHI] to pay the salaries of two dedicated BCP kindergarten teachers who
have been working for more than a year with no pay. The Meyers family from
Australia has presented seven calves to BCP for our families-in-need
program. As the calves mature
they will generate valuable income for the families involved and their
offspring will be given back to BCP to help more families.. When
Sheeda Cheng of Singapore was married last year she asked that in lieu of
gifts, wedding guests make a donation to BCP.
This wonderful gesture raised $2500.
Since then Sheeda and Mark have visited our programs in Bali and
matched the original donation with one of their own, making a total of
$5000.
Linda
Moselle, Joyce Scott, John Cooke
Directors
UPDATE
- November 2006
In September the Bali Children's Project received an unusual, and
extremely generous donation of S$3500 from Sheeda Cheng in Singapore.
She had asked that guests at her wedding make a donation to the BCP in lieu of a
gift. The response was overwhelming. Thank you Sheeda for your
creative generosity.
The new kindergarten in Tangkup (Karengasem) opened during the summer and
is proving extremely popular
The Dental Hygiene program, sponsored by the Oral-B
company, got off to a flying start. The condition of children's teeth
revealed through the program has highlighted the urgent need for expanded dental
education and care in communities throughout Bali. The BCP is actively
seeking corporate sponsors to create the necessary support.
Staff Changes: Wayan Sudiadnyana has joined the Board as Director
of Education. He is also Secretary of the new Yayasan Bali Children's
project.
Wayan Sedana has resigned from the BCP Board of Directors, but remains as our
legal council
Our contract with the Hochschule
für Gestaltung und Kunst in Zürich has been renewed for a further year.
This will enable the BCP to collaborate with Prof. Dieter Maurer on his research
into the early development of artistic creativity in children of different
cultural backgrounds.
We continue to be overwhelmed by the generosity and committment of our sponsors,
donors, and volunteers. In particular we wish to thank Jack and
Michael Rush of Mann Logistics in Australia for their continuing school
renorvations, Michel Dubeau of Los Angeles and Lynn & Shea Stiegler.
UPDATE - AUGUST 2006
Director Linda Venter is again busy in Bali. She announces the
opening of the new kindergarten in the village of Tanggup in Karangasem.
She is also initiating a new Dental Hygiene program - something badly needed in
Bali. She is seeking support from a leading manufacturer of dental
products and is also looking for volunteers with appropriate dental training.
UPDATE - JUNE 2006
The Bali Children's Project wishes to thank Half Price Books
(www.halfpricebooks.com) for their on-going support and generosity.
Changed phone number: The new cellphone (mobile) number for Kadek Liatini
at the BCP office is: 085237835853
UPDATE - APRIL 2006
 Directors
Joyce Scott and John Cooke arrived in Bali in mid-January, and were able to
spend a few days discussing BCP matters with fellow director Linda Venter
before she returned to New York. Linda
herself returned to Bali again in late March for two weeks over the Balinese
New Year (Nyepi).
Left,
Joyce with Iluh, our star high-school student in Munduk
The
following is a summary of recent activities.
Volunteers
 | Mary
Knapp, who is volunteering with the BCP for six months, has been warmly
welcomed on Nusa Penida Island, where she is teaching much-needed English
classes. She has also
been teaching music classes in the Penestanan kindergartens. |
| Volunteers
Hans and Annette from the Netherlands have been staying at Purna, where
they too are teaching English classes in local schools.
They have also initiated English classes for the village youth and
young adults, helping to fill a great need.
There has been a very enthusiastic response to this opportunity,
and we hope to continue it in the future with more ESL volunteers. |
| Diane
and Elliot from San Francisco recently left Bali after a highly successful
month-long visit as volunteers. Elliot
taught math and English in the public schools.
Diane has worked with BCP art teacher April Lelia, teaching art
classes and creating beautiful murals.
 |
|
In addition to her
other activities, BCP administrator Kadek Liatini, is also teaching
computer classes for children at the new BCP office in Penestanan. |
| Sponsor
and volunteer John Bucher from Spokane has brought a guitar with him on
his trip to Bali, and is teaching Kadek to play, so fullfilling her
lifelong dream. She plans to
pass this new talent on to the village children of Penestanan, and is
thrilled at the opportunity.
|
Houses
& School Construction
| The
house at Purna has undergone various improvements, including fresh paint
and new curtains. Part of the
thatched roof has been replaced and with April Lelia’s help, the gardens
have been extended and improved.
It is now even more welcoming to volunteers and visitors, and
remains available for rent in aid of the BCP, as does our mountain retreat
at Sanda. |
| Through
the BCP, the Mann Construction Company from Australia is currently working
with local community leaders in Munduk and Wanagiri on school restoration
projects. |
Schools
| The
BCP has arranged for the continued education of a teacher at the Wanagiri
kindergarten to enable her to train other BCP kindergarten teachers.
|
 Thanks
to the generosity of Michel Dubeau we now offer dance classes to the
children in an impoverished village near Klungkung.
There are two classses with 45 children, and both the children and
their parents are very excited at this opportunity.
Each week we also offer classes in art and English. Because
the local school is in such poor repair, the classes are being held in the
home of the local priest, who has offered us space for a local office. BCP hopes to expand its activities in this area, including
further school repair projects .
| Once
again, a heartfelt thanks to all our donors.
With your kindness, many children now have the opportunity for an
education and hope for the future. |
| We
were thrilled to visit some of the sponsored children and see how well
they are doing. Niluh from
Munduk, who has been sponsored for about the last seven years, is now
attending a private high school and is almost top student in the school. We are very proud of her and her efforts.
In
Penestanan our sponsored children are younger.
Through our help they receive help with uniforms, books and other
materials. It is wonderful
the see the joy in their faces. |
Yayasan
BCP
| The
formation of the BCP yayasan, or Indonesian non-profit, is expected to be
completed very shortly. With government recognition in Indonesia, we will
be better able to access available grants and raise donations to benefit
Balinese children and schools.
|
Lipah
& Bangle
| While
we were staying in the East-coast village of Lipah, one of the fishermen,
a relative of our old friend Nyoman Musti, disappeared at sea. Quite miraculously, after five days at sea,
clinging to his up-turned boat much of the time, he was eventually washed
up on Sumbawa, the island beyond Lombok.
John wrote an article for the English-language Bali newspaper, and
arranged for an article of this remarkable story of survival to be
published in an Indonesian paper,
seeking financial help for the victim and his family, and for the owner of
the boat. Happily this
produced a positive response.
|
| Also,
while at Lipah, we arranged for a remarkable, self-educated Balinese
friend from the remote mountain village of Bangle to receive a free
corneal transplant through an Australian charity organization –
something we have been hoping to achieve for several years.
|
At
the same time we met several times with Gede, a remarkable local artist, who
has set up and funded his own foundation to enable students from remote
mountain communities to attend high school in Amlapura by setting up
residential facilities nearby. It
is the BCP’s wish to help expand this innovative program.
In addition, we are working to collaborate with Gede in the bulk
purchase of school books from Surabya in Java for use in schools in Bali.
Thank
you for your support.
Click
here for for 2005 Newletter
|
