Sorry Im late posting this but I have had a busy weekend.
We were up and having breaky at 7.30am. I must admit the food at Tegal Sari had improved a lot since we were there at Xmas. I had fresh fruit a pancake and a cappuccino.
Our driver, Made Dedut, from the Helen Flavel Foundation, arrived to pick us up to take us up to Singaraja to meet my sponsor child. Made Dedut was just wonderful, he tuned out to be one of the best drivers I have used in Bali. He is very good at speaking English and has a wicked sense of humor. He lives in Denpasar and I have his mobile number if anyone would like it.
We loaded up the van with rice and a bulging suit case full of toys and clothes etc to give to the villiage, then we were off.
The two M's were so far in good spirits and there had not been a bad word said to each other.....so far!
Marg sat in the front and the rest of us in the back.
We stopped for coffee at Pucung Indah Hotel & Restaurant in Bedugul and met the lovely Moira, who was very kind to give Mum some cream and a bandage for her knee. (Mum has a bad knee, she was hit by a truck many years ago, but that is a different story) (Its true!) Moria if you are reading this, thank you very much. It really helped Mum a lot.
The restaurant is on the side of a mountain with views of rice terraces that slopes down into a valley well worth visiting. They also have accommodation, which I am hopping to check out at Xmas.
After coffee, I was busy gas bagging to Moria and noticed that the girls had escaped and were across the road talking to a guy with 2 birds that I thought were Toucans, but I am not sure, and a huge bat. He charged us 20,000 to take photos of us with them. (that was with our own camera by the way) Mum had a bird on each shoulder and one of the birds pooped down her back. Ha ha isn't it supposed to be lucky if a bird poops on you? Any way the guy grabbed a cloth and was bending over wiping it off Mummy bears, bum as I took the photo. The photo turned out hilarious.............. Here's Mum with two birds on her shoulder and this guy bending over with his hand on her bum,and Mum with a huge smile on her face! I bet Mums story she tells her friends at home will be a bit different!
We all got back into the van and headed off around the windy roads..... The view was just beautiful. Made showed us a huge resort built on the side of the mountain that was just left to deteriorate, he said boss had gone bankrupt. Such a shame.
Mum ended up getting car sick so we asked Margaret if she could swap seats so Mum could sit in the front. Margaret said she was just pretending to be sick, so she could get the front seat! Ha ha they were off again.
We offered Mum to Made. We told him that he could keep her and that she is good at scrubbing floors... with a tooth brush!!!
Mum piped up and said ohh their not nice are they Made'
Made said 'no worries I will take you home!' We told him that at 72 she still had lots of good years of scrubbing, still left in her.....and as a bonus, she could cook as well! He looked at Mum with sad sympathetic eyes and said 'No problems Ibu.........I will take you home.....and put you in the freezer!' ha ha We were sold .....and even willing to gift wrap her!
As we were going around the bends Made asked us if we would like to stop and meet his brother and sister. We all thought.. oh here we go, we are never going to make it to see my sponser child.....but we were polite and said 'yes why not'. He drove on a bit then pulled over to where a group of monkeys were sitting on the side of the road.........and pointed at two of them and said 'meet my brother and my sister!' We loved the guy!
We arrived at the Helen Flavel school to a lovely welcome and taken in to meet some of the kids who sang a song for us. It was school holidays in Bali so I think the kids came in just to meet us.
Mum and Margaret were in their glory and sang along with the kids. They didn't even need alcohol to entice them! I must admit I was so glad Mum was there as I just stood there like a dork, not knowing what to say or do......but never fear Mummy bear was here!
While I hid in the background Mum took over, she stood in the front of the class and started to sing 'Old MacDonald had a farm' the kids loved it. She would point to a child and ask them what animal they would like, and then they would all sing the verse. Coral and I even joined in.
Then we had a tour of the foundation. Helen Flavel is a God send to these poor people and she is doing a magnificent job! She is truly a wonderful caring person. I would love her to put up a JBR on how she first started this foundation.
Then it was off to the villiage............What a humbling experience. They had no toilet, they use the bush, they had no shower or bath they used a drum filled with water and a scoop to pour the water over themselves , their tooth brushes sat on a rock with a bowl of white substance next to them, I guess this was some kind of toothpaste. The kitchen was a brick fire place with a pot on the fire, they had one bedroom and all 8 family members sleep in.It was a little grass hut with a metal double bed base with no mattress no sheets and only one tatty pillow and a woven mat. All six kids sleep on the bed while the parents sleep on the floor.
Mum wanted to know how they could make so many babies, while all being in the same room. Trust Mum to be thinking of sex!
Down the back a little away from their living area was a cement enclosure with a Mummy pig, a couple of baby pigs, and some ducks. The oldest son told us that they hire a Daddy pig to come over and help produce little pigs, which the family will either eat or sell.
They were a family of 6 kids who ranged from 17 down to 2 years old. The 17 year old was the only one that could speak English. He told us that Dad works on a nearby tobacco farm for 13600rp ($2) a day. The 17 year old used to have a job in Denpasar but after the first bomb he was put off, and has not been able to find a job since. He has no trade and no schooling. The family had not been able to afford to send any of their children to school. .
My sponsor child ,Wayan, is 8 years old and it costs me $120 a year which will pay for his schooling, books & uniform. What a small price to pay to help someone less fortunate than ourselves. I spent more than that on the weekend going to a Wedding.
I really felt good knowing I can help this child with an education that could hopefully make so much difference for him and his family in the future.
I opened the suit case full of goodies that I had brought and noticed we had a gathering of people from the village all watching us with curiosity. The men opened coconuts and offered them to us. I handed out all the little toys I had brought to the children...........the look of pleasure on the kid's faces was beautiful. These kids have no toys of their own and have not even been in a car before. Little Wayan was so very shy and kept trying to hide behind his Mother.
Coral and I were so touched we ended up emptying out our purses, with our daily allowance of spending money, and gave it to one of the guys from the Helen Flavel Foundation to buy necessities for them.
Would you believe the most important part of my holiday....... and the battery on my camera went flat! Lucky Coral had hers with her.
Well it was soon time to say goodbye to the family and we were on our way back. I thought about the family all the way back, and thought about how much difference my husband, who is a carpenter, could do for them in one week with the funds and materials.
I would love to bring my 2 grandsons over to meet Wayan, when they are at an age to understand.
We stopped at the famous Crackers Bar and Grill to check the loo's and the markets out. Mum had a winge 'why are we stopping here' 'Oh I'm not getting out of the car' So we left her there............when we were looking at the markets she miraculously appeared behind us. Ha ha she was frightened she would miss something.
Mum ended up buying a T shirt from the ADOPTA shop.
The time was getting on and we had not had lunch and were all starving so we ended taking Made in for a buffet lunch at Pucung Indah.
We had pumpkin soup,sping rolls, fried noodles etc etc the food was lovely, sorry can't remember what else we ate. I just remember that we were all starving!
After lunch with full bellies we set off with Mum sitting in the front. Along the road on our journey back we ended up behind a truck that had some kind of yellow rice cracker snacks. The truck was loaded to the hilt but the bags were flying off every where....I guess the local kids would have found a nice treat that night.
As we all chatted, Made told Mum that he was not going to put her in the freezer..... she could stay in his room and be his lover, because he thought she was beautiful!
We all laughed and told him she would make a better scrubber than a lover! Ha ha
We finally arrived back at Tegal Sari and it was sad to say good bye to Made and Mum. Ha ha No only kidding. Besides ...........I knew Mum wouldn't go and leave her duty free grog behind!!
She would hate the thought of US drinking it!
We got our keys to the rooms and all walked in single file along the pathway. Mum and Margaret were going at a fast pace in front of us...I think they could smell there duty free grog.
Coral was behind me and I decided to be naughty and make a bit of noise from my bottom ..it ended up being a loud explosion!........I turned around grinning like the Cheshire cat..... And there, to my absolute horror, was a strange lady behind me! Oopps!!! Coral was behind her and was in hysterics....... she ran past us laughing her head off........I knew she had to go and pee...........I wished she would just pee her pants! Then I wouldn't feel SO Embarrassed!! God I hoped I didn't see that lady again! AND I hope she does not read this forum!
We ordered room service for dinner and climbed into bed ! Still laughing at what I had done. Maybe I'll just stay in my room tomorrow......... just in case I bump into her.....