The Gold Fish Bowl, now looking outwards

INSIDE THE BOWL, LOOKING OUT.
My Sincere thanks go to Made, Ketut and their extended families, who have made everything possible. "Jaga diri baik baik ya".

Way back in the late eighties I had my first trip to Indonesia. Our travel agent, back in the days pre internet, booked us in at Sanur and on arrival we set about some exploring. It did not take long to realise that we were on the geriatrics side of the island [as it was then] but too late. We did get to see Kuta though, as well as Ubud, before flying to Surabaya in Java and then by the night train to Jakarta, another bus to Yokyakarta a side trip to Burabudurr and bus again back to Bali, all over a two week period. Add being drugged and robbed on the night bus from Yogyakarta and you have a massive adventure for non speakers of Bahasa, on their first Indonesian experience. Fast forward over the next twenty five years covering double back packing circumnavigations of Java, plus more back packing expeditions to Sulawesi, West New Guinea, Raja Ampat Archepelago-SCUBA dive cruising, Molucus Islands, Sumba, Sumbawa, Flores, Lombok, Gilli Islands [pre modern discovery], Summatra and the Banyak Archipelago as well as Nias. Throw in a dangerous amount of ability with Indonesian phrases of the “I want/need” variety and that was the picture until around 2008. Very much Indophyles but still standing outside of and looking into the fish bowl.
About 2007 Cindy, a close friend, leased the top floor living unit of a Balinese family’s home and so began over the next year or so the transition into the bowl. Cindy has regular shift ‘swings’ from her mining job in WA, so the Bali unit became her base. I also have had for the last few years regular business trips to Java. Passing through and stopping off in Bali became a habit and so relationships with Made and Ketut, [owners of the family home] as well as their close and extended family developed. Over a period of time I learned their respective stories. In short both of them literally walked away, as twelve [Madi] and fifteen [Ketut] year olds, from their anticipated future of drudgery, poverty, ill health and short lives from dry land farming in an impoverished village. Made had completed only four years of school. After overcoming great heart ache and homesickness, in the following years - over time -they learned second and even third languages, started two businesses and made good. They have now, after years of struggle, become successful business identities in Kuta. They visit Les, [in North East Bali] their home village regularly throughout the year, especially for significant religious holidays. Over time I came to join them on such visits and also stayed in both parents’ homes. The ‘top village’ where Made lived as a girl is around an hour’s hard walk up a thirty degree incline. Not for the faint hearted. As a nine year old she went down each day to get to Primary school and often made a second round trip when she took produce to market and other food home before school. She also had her own secret business, collecting and selling both river sand and firewood. She buried the money in a secret stash. This was her stake money which enabled her to leave some years later. Hard work before and after school as well as on weekends was normal life. Nowadays the top village does have a Primary School- but available education finishes at around the age of twelve. The costs associated with sending children to either junior secondary school or vocational high school are beyond reality for most. The cost would often be more than a whole family in the top village survives on for a year!

And so with enough Bahasa Indonesia language skills to be getting comfortable, as well as the entrée to a Balinese family; with their close friendship I have began to move to the inside of the bowl ----and to walk a different pathway from my tourist days. I have now visited the top village many times, eaten and slept there. Also celebrated a birthday there, with an extended family of fifty or so persons. Chatting under light provided by diesel soaked rags in bamboo torches that evening and feeling inclusive, was memorable. I am now personally and awkwardly aware by my small experiences of the massive differences in what is normality in our respective lives. Each time I visit Les I can’t help but compare the differences there to the life that I know in Perth. It’s a complex and tangled series of emotions- that get more tangled as time goes by! My material possessions are infinitely greater, the enigma for me begins with the ready smile and the genuine affection that comes forth. The acceptance of what is and the strength of the bonds between family units and extended family-to allay the cynics, I need to say right now, my wife and I do not give hand outs. Our philanthropy is via the village council and is aimed at infrastructure, such as supporting the village plan to build a junior secondary school in the top village. We have built, in equal partnership with Made and Ketut, two extremely comfortable and well equipped Homestay units on the top of their family dwelling. There are superb views of both hills and ocean from them, the beach is five minutes away. Here it is possible to experience life in an unspoiled village, whilst being underpinned by four star western comforts. Visitors’ patronage provides a cash flow back to the village through support services and our 50% of the income goes back into village education. See www.homestaybali.com The dilemma is seeing with eyes that are not clouded by modern western values. What interest is it in Les that the ASX has gone up or down? Yet having an ability with English language will make it possible for those in the village to seek work which is not poorly paid manual labour. Education is the key to their future, no matter where they may choose to live. Made knows from bitter experience, with no school certificate she could only find basic ‘drudge’ work as a teenager. [Hear Made describe her childhood with no education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsD0FZ_Yr6A ]
Difficult choices abound for us all as we develop an on going relationship with the Les community. A Cargo Cult mentality readily comes from hand outs and has no underpinning stability, we must all look to sustainable development owned and driven by the community. Infrastructure such as a school is something that will benefit generations, not just titillate the present. Look no further than Australia to see how to destroy an indigenous people with hand outs and no underpinning of beliefs, values and self respect.
There is much to assimilate, new values to understand, new bureaucracies to grapple with, different customs and mores to appreciate. Our journey inside the fish bowl, is just beginning. Our fledgling foundation, ‘Ethical and Green’ and the like minded persons who form its management group are one of our avenues www.ethicalandgreen.org