Whenever we were in Bali, we would give the occasional handout to those who beg on the streets and at the traffic intersections. But when we were in Bali from Dec 17th 08 -01 Jan 09, we decided to try something different. As we had 120 Kilos of baggage (6 of us, we used only 30 kilos for ourselves) the rest were Soccer Balls, lots of stationeries, Stuffed toys, Barbie dolls, stickers and of course used clothes).
We were initially intending to give them to the orphanages, but I decided to give them to the needy kids on the streets. It was a decision I was not to regret. Whatever anyone might say about gangs who use children to beg, ect. One incident really hit me. We were driving towards Nusa Dua on that intersection that crosses the airport to Kuta. There was this family, the daughter who was about 9 or 10 would go up to the windows of cars that had stopped and beg for $$. We gave her some, but called her back to give her some stickers and coloring material. She was much more appreciative of the items then the cash. Whilst I know $$ can help fill their stomachs, a kid is still a kid and I could tell that it just brought her more joy.
One day we made a 3 - 4 hr drive to Mt Batur, from Sanur, it was a 45 minute descend to the foot of the volcano. I had read somewhere on the forum that the people there are very very poor, Imagine living on land that is from volcano rocks, having a zinc roof and bamboo mat as walls. Sanitation was unheard of. I have seen this with my own eyes & pictures to prove. The people there looked as though they hadn't had a bath in weeks, not to mention the children, with dirty faces and runny noses. Yes this place exists in beautiful Bali. We distributed our gifts and true to their blood as Balianese, they were so ever grateful & thankful. My only one regret was that we did not take up much needed food. So we have decided to do this when we are there again in June.
I am not asking anyone in this forum for anything, just an insight into the plight of those who are much worse off then we are. There are many tours to Mt Batur, Lake Batur, tourists spend hundreds of dollars, but the people who live at the foot of the volcano are virtually non existent. Believe me, to see the smiles on the faces of these people weather on the streets or in the villages.. PRICELESS!!!!