In Reply to: Pre-loved clothes and toys to Bali? posted by Malibali on Saturday, 25. August 2007 at 21:36 Bali Time:
to Bali. My children have never had problems with good quality hand me downs. In the early years, children grow out of things ( and toys developmentally) pretty quickly before they are worn out. As others have said, if you would not put your own children in them, don't take them but it seems a crime to take almost empty suitcases to Bali. Last trip I took used coloured pencils which were a minimum length, clothes and linen. These went to a village, which until a couple of years could not afford tops. When the person (who is well known on here) came to collect them, our hotel staff helped to carry the goods. There was nearly 50kg. You could see the hotel staff were interested in where the goods were going and wishfully thinking. When they heard the name of the village, they took our hands and thanked us. "We are poor but you are helping the poorest of the poor in Bali." One of our fellow travellers had a son who had visited the year before. He befriended a local and his brother in Poppies Lane. The local explained that he and his brother only worked every second day as they only had one reasonable pair of trousers between them.
We still support the local shops and make care packages for the locals we meet on our journeys. If you would like any more info, feel free to email me.