With a Little Help From My Friends…

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. So check out this picture of ten-year-old Nyoman.

Nyoman is one of my new friends from Munti. At the ripe age of 10 he is the family bread-winner and he wears the burden with a smile. He also recognises, however, the importance of what he’s expected to do.

In the picture you can see that his chosen customer has NO interest in him whatsoever, but he will hound her until she gets fed up and either gives him money or yells at him. On this occasion she was fortunate, Nyoman noticed me and let her be.

Seven nights a week these children can be found, often barefoot, walking the streets of Kuta selling leather plaited bracelets to tourists. The government has banned begging so they sell. Some of the children make their own bracelets, others buy them for 1,000 rupiah each.

If you ask the children how much the bracelets are, they will tell you 5,000 (60c) but in all reality they will take whatever you’re prepared to give. I watched many tourists throw 1,000 rupiah at them just to make them go away.

I spent almost every night that I was in Bali talking to these children. I fell in love with them. They are a painful example of child labour that is simply accepted as part of life in Bali. They are fully aware of the responsibility that they shoulder and support each other in the endeavors to make money, but the sheer numbers of them means that they also need to compete.

I wanted to see for myself where these children came from and find out why their parents would send them away. I paid a driver/interpreter to take me to the Munti Gunung region, so I could speak to the head of the village and find out exactly what’s going on out there.

A four hour drive through some of the most beautiful country-side I’ve ever seen we reached our destination and asked what could possibly be loosely translated as “take me to your leader”. And the funniest part was – they did.

We spent hours in conversations with a surprisingly young man, who we are told would have achieved his position as head of the village because of his superior intelligence. He explained the poverty in the region which was populated with 5,000 people. The lack of water meant that most traditional industries were impossible. I surveyed their archaic water collection system and marveled at the fact that someone had built them a well, but it broke within a week – no one had tried to fix it.

They were hospitable people who fed us up on Balinese coconuts and something that I tasted out of courtesy and nearly vomited. Our Balinese guide thought it was fantastic. I asked them what seems like an obvious question – for a Westerner. “Why don’t you move somewhere where there is more water?” They laughed at me. Apparently that was a ridiculous idea – it’s just not the done thing.

So I asked the next most obvious question “Why do you send these children away?” more laughter. “No one will feel sorry for the adults. The children can make more money”

And that’s just the way it is. The complexities of this region, their struggles, their traditional values, their religion, their systemic inability to “look outside the box” in any way are all far too much for me to try to fit into this blog post so I won’t pretend that there is nothing more to this than sheer ignorance and pigheadedness.

The fact of the matter is that these children will never go to school. They will sell bracelets to tourists until their cuteness wears off, the boys will probably return to the village or be promoted to selling something else, the girls will progress to working in massage parlours and/or eventually prostitution. That’s if they aren’t sold off to the child sex trade before they reach that age.

Are the adults of Munti Gunung lazy? Yes, I think some of them probably are. Do they know any better? No, I don’t think they do. Do they see anything wrong with sending their children away? No, they can’t – they don’t know any other way. Does that make it right? No… no freaking way.

Back on the streets of Kuta one night I came across a new girl, she called herself Sarah (but this is unlikely to be her name). She was 8. She was new to this game, her shoes had broken so she discarded them, her feet were bloodied and sore. She approached me limping with tears in her eyes and shook her hand of bracelets at me. I asked her name, age and where she was from. I sat in the gutter with her as we awkwardly exchanged details – her in poor English, me in even poorer Bahasa.

Within moments an older girl joined us, she spoke better English. She was clearly there to check this little girl was OK. I convinced them to come with me to see one of the local market stall holders I had befriended. I bought her a pretty pair of pink shoes with frangipani’s which matched the one in her hair. I told her to thank the shop keeper, who I know had given me an exceptional deal on the shoes and she bowed and said thank you.

“Have you eaten today?” I asked her, she looked at me puzzled. “Makanan?” (food) She shook her head. I took a packet of milk arrowroot biscuits from my bag which I carried everywhere and handed them to her. “You need to share them with your friends”

She smiled the widest smile and tears welled in her eyes. She again jut out her handful of bracelets at me “For you – my gift – which one you like?” I told her to keep the bracelets, she would need them to make money. She thanked me again and they disappeared into the darkness.

There’s a favourite song of mine that you will often see me quote. “I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat, who am I to be blind pretending not to see their need?”

Like Nyoman I have no choice now but to constantly shake my “bracelets” in the faces of everyone I meet. I know that 95% of the people I meet will ignore me, 3% will give me money just to shut me up and the other 2% will give because they genuinely care.

Honestly, I don’t care why you support Project 18, I only care that you do, because without a little help from my friends, I can’t help these children…and someone needs to help them.

Here’s a list of ways you can help today, NOW:

• Buy a raffle ticket – buy 5, 10, or 20 – the profits from a single ticket can feed a child for a day.
• Sponsor a child – for less than $1/day you can sponsor a child in our care
• Buy a sponsorship pack – a one time payment, starting at just $10
• Support our Facebook page Auctions for Education – join today (and invite all your friends) – donate an item for auction, or just bid, and help us raise funds to offer education sponsorship for children while remaining in their family environment
• TELL YOUR FRIENDS! Blog about us or become an ambassador.