Made, a dear friend

As in most holidays, we went to Bali looking for what the guidebooks promised, but we come back hardly remembering those sights or experiences. Instead, we came back with dear memories of the relationships we had formed there. Made Rohani is one such, and we'll start this short series of blogs with a special mention of her.

Made (pronounced Mah-day) works at a bookstore in Ubud, Ganesha bookstore. If you're a tourist based in Ubud, most likely you've been there. We met her at the bookstore, got her advice on what books we need to read to become veteran tourists in the shortest time, and we became good friends.

While most Balinese we know occupy themselves with, as Eswandy aptly puts it: "Full time religion and part time work", Made spends much of her time after work doing volunteer work. (A typical traditional Balinese would hardly dream of going on even an all expenses paid for holiday, there're just too many minor and major ceremonies to attend to and too much prep work to be done for them!) Many kind things she has done for her people, one of which is trying to enrich the present education the children are getting.

Like in so many countries where making ends meet is its main concern, libraries and books are a luxury. In schools, most children have difficulty reading due to the lack of practice in reading because there is not much reading material available for them. As such, that adds extra strain in attempting test papers and exams.

Made has worked with a few foreigners to rebuild schools and to set up small learning centres or libraries within the school in the villages. She believes, and so do we, that it would be beneficial for the children to have access to another world through books, and thus raising the literacy level amongst them. Get them books, and a place to read, maybe put a reading program in place, then an English program. And it does not cost a lot.