Some Progress on the Library Project

Before we even started work on the library at Sekolah Dasar Samu (which is actually the only library we’re working on now, the other is an English program at Sekolah Dasar Belang), Miyuki had already drawn up the design for it.



For a volunteer project, she certainly has put in a lot of heart into it! Just goes to show that we don’t need lots of money to make a place look cosy!



Seems to be turning out like how Miyuki envisioned it.

Previously, we had some problems getting a tukang (worker), a general one, a fix-it-all. Which was in fact our good fortune, for some time later, SC’s dance teacher’s (Ibu* Cok Rai) husband (Pak Toni) volunteered to take it up.


So far Pak Toni has done a commendable job, and we’re considering of enlisting his help for future projects.

*Additional info: Ibu is a term used in Bali (actually, Indonesia) for calling women who are ehhh...well, not so young… (like “auntie” or “makcik”) For men, that’ll be “Bapak” or “Pak”. So I am called “Pak” pretty often here. Ibu Cok Rai is in fact younger than us, but we still call her “Ibu” cos she’s 1) Married, and 2) a mother already. Kids run around calling almost everyone “Ibu” or “Pak”, anyone that’s older than them. Adults will probably refer to you as so…probably cos they respect you as an equal hehe…so don’t be offended when you’re referred to as so here ya?

A lesson on instructions for next lesson

"When will we have English lesson again?"
"What time will we come to school?"
"Where will we have our English lesson?"
"How will we go there?"
"What will we wear?"
"What will we do there?"
"What time will we go home?"


Can you complete the sentences and answer all the questions? The kids sure can! And for real, we will have our next lesson outdoors, with songs and games, and food!

So where will we have our English lesson again?

Now we exist!

We are now officially in existance because...we've got an identity! Though identity is the cause of man's downfall, we decided that if we needed help, we've got to hang out with the Romans...hehehe...

We didn’t quite think we’d need a name...what more a logo...but having talked to some people in “the field”, it’s seemed more favourable to have one. With it, we’ll have an identity, and in wielding this passport of identity, we’ll be able to seek help from other more POWERFUL groups.

We have been thinking about what to call ourselves, I remember pondering over it in Singapore with Es, and we both thought Banjar Saraswati would be an appropriate name for us. The rest in Bali agreed, and then came the long and tedious process (for Miyuki) to design the logo. She painstakingly designed a few, but we couldn’t use them cos they were too detailed, we needed them to be simple enough to be made into a ink stamp.

note: I've tried to upload the other sample logos Miyuki has designed, by couldn't cos they're in a different format...being the computer dunce that I am, it cannot be helped...

WHY BANJAR SARASWATI?

Banjars are unique to Bali, they are like the village government. The people from the banjar form a community that looks out for each other. For example, during a funeral or a wedding, much help is needed for preparation, whether if it’s for food, or decorating the place, or just helping out serving and cleaning. The banjar holds a meeting and duties are delegated. They also call this “gotong royong”. Banjars are also responsible for many other things, like settling disputes, coming to aid during emergencies, doing spring cleaning for the village, etc etc...

In Bali, Saraswati is the slim waisted waif like goddess (also called "Dewi", male gods are called "Dewa")of wisdom and creativity (In India, she acquires a more voluptuous figure). Almost every education related institution has her presence, whether manifested as a statue in the courtyard, or her portrait in their logo.

In Banjar Saraswati, all of us form a community, and we help each other out. It’s like an extended community, one that is propelled by the common need to promote wisdom and creativity. All that is said sounds rather impressive, doesn’t it? We’re still far from that “grandeur”, but we’ll do it at Balinese pace, and well, we might just make it .

PS. All correspondence will be directed to and through our official email. Banjar Saraswati has her very own email! Contact her at: banjarsaraswati@gmail.com

Our English Program

2nd week of the reading program, and we realized it isn’t a reading program we’re conducting, it’s an English language program! At least it is so for now. This week we had all the kids to ourselves, and we had a lovely time. We’re still getting to know the kids and their proficiency, so lessons are still a bit haphazard, so we won’t bother to describe what goes on in class for now.



It poured the whole night through and spilled right into the morning, but the rain didn’t stop the kids from coming. The skies then cleared for the children to go home, and revealed the northern mountains usually obscured by clouds. Whoever’s planning for a holiday in Bali could add volunteering a Sunday with us here to your itinerary 

A Good Paint Job

29 March, Saturday, we started on the paint job for the walls, Miyuki was the artist, so she had free rein on what color to choose, and she chose….lime green! That did make the difference in cheering up the room, and we hope it will for the children too.

When we arrived, the girls (notice no boys?) who were with us the previous week cleaning up were all armed and ready. We cleaned up the room a bit more, then started work on the painting, which, to the disappointment of the girls, they could not help.

Just when the girls’ energy levels were waning, extra help arrived! Our good friends Tomoe and Ralf, with their 2 friends on holiday from Germany volunteered to burn their Saturday morning with us. They carried on with the rest of the paint job, and in a jiffy, all was done.

Library building, first stage- cleaning up.

We arrived in school, met the principal, told her we wanted to clean up the room (we had volunteered to be the cleaning party), and were told to wait…and when we finally decided that we needed to get our ass moving, we walked out, and lo and behold! the room was being cleaned out by almost every kid in school! This here is an example of Balinese efficiency.

All hands on deck!

Not all...the practice in lounging around starts young for Balinese men.

The junk were moved out, room swept and washed out, and we stood around taking photos of the cute little pupils from Taman Kanak-kanak (T.K. in short, meaning "Kindergarten")who were too young to help.

TK girls in prayer at end of class

In about half an hours time, for the first time in many years, the room was swathed in sunshine...and we were able to take in...what repairs were needed for the room!

Not exactly "gleaming", but good enough, check out the "was" pic in the previous blogs...

Next stage, repairs and painting the room.

The girls who stuck with the cleaning right through to the end, thank you!

Some hiccups with the Reading Program

On 16 March, Sunday, we volunteered at the reading program at Sekolah Dasar Belang Singapadu. This was the school we reported on in the earlier blog, the school that the Bali Children’s Foundation help build the library.

Reading program conducted in library

English dialogue drill!

The reading program was “sort of” already in place, conducted by the school’s English teacher, who was paid to do so. On that day, with leave from the teacher, Made and Siew Cheng each took groups of pupils for warm up sessions of English speaking. It was a rather rewarding session as although most of their command of English were poor, they were really enthusiastic! So much so that most of them arrive for class way before scheduled time!

Surveying the situation, we felt that there were too many pupils for the teacher to handle, too little time invested, and well, the lessons could be better thought out and planned. We decided, we’ll talk to the teacher and work things out.

Going home...

The following Sunday, 23 March, cruising along the scenic route to school, we were looking forward to time spent with the kids...
Didn't quite do justice to the view in this pic...going back to a kampung school, how's that for incentive to go to school?

...but upon arriving in school, we found it empty! Empty it was, but it wasn’t supposed to be...the reading program is to run every Sunday, and we had already informed that we would be here.

Asking around, we found out that the children did come, and had waited for an hour for the teacher who did not come, then went home. We were a tad pissed. We couldn’t contact the teacher, so Made called the principal. There we discovered, that “some” of the teachers in that school can be very ill disciplined. There were cases of teachers leaving their places in the midst of a lesson to go home to attend to matters of no importance! Now, reporting on this, we're not bitching about the teacher, we just hope that should anyone wish to volunteer with the village schools, they would at least be aware of how "informal" their system of education is.

Again looking at the situation, we decided, we’ll work out the reading program on our own, and the teacher may help out whenever she feels like coming in.