In Reply to: bali orphans posted by jacky on Saturday, 18. June 2005 at 11:45 Bali Time:
hey, i just returned from bali last week and took over with us a heap of colouring pencils, books, rubbers,sharpners, rulers...etc. we took our things to 2 diffrent places. the first was a group of kids in a community in kuta who a balanese friend of mine knew. these kids really really needed it and were so grateful as were all of their parents and the elders in the community.
the second lot we took to an orphange in dempasar. i'm sure they appreciated our things however because it is an "orphange" it's were people know to take things. they are bombarded with things from westerners. not saying that they don't deserve nor need it, but perhaps just look at ur options.
a few suggestions might be clothes or toys. even things like tennis balls, frizbies and skipping ropes. (we took a few of these and they disapeared in seconds - at the first place we visited)
Also be aware that the people working in the shops on the streets might be full on in wanting the things you have and also be aware that u might get a fright at the airport. we left the day after korby's sentence and had our bags wraped. when we got there my friends was all torn with powder on it and a big cross. they wanted us to open it and it turns out they just wanted to know what all the pencils were.
oh and one more thing.....we called our airlines in advance and they gave us an extra 10kg each for our suitcase weight for charity.
good luck and enjoy ur holiday :)