NEWS

     - including the BCP Newsletter for 2005, 

NEWSLETTER – summer 2007

     The Bali Children’s Project, together with the schools and children we serve, continues to grow and flourish.  We are particularly grateful to all of you who have so generously supported our work and enabled us to expand our services and help ever more children.   We are happy to announce that the BCP is now formally recognized as an Indonesian yayasan (non-profit), in addition to our non-profit (501c3) status in the United States.

 BCP has thus far started six village kindergartens, the last in Tanggkup, in an impoverished region of rural Karengasem province.  In addition, through the generosity of a local Balinese Construction Company. we have been able rebuild and expand derelict school buildings in several communities.  

Our volunteer program has been very active and continues to attract dedicated individuals prepared to donate their time and energies to benefit communities around Bali.  In particular we should mention Diane & Elliot Parkhill from San Francisco, who not only taught math, but helped children in Penestanan to create beautiful murals - a new art form for Bali.  Mary Knapp, who was with us for six months, broke new ground by working with our veterinarian friend Bayu on remote Nusa Penida Island to introduce the first English language classes there.    Thank you to Esther & Günter Golde for setting up an ESL program and many thanks to Faye Munn  who  has been an outstanding contributor to our village children, devoting many months to teaching English every day in the local school. The children grew to love her as she did them and we are all very grateful for her time and help. To all our volunteers, including those too numerous to mention by name, we offer our most sincere thanks for all your work.  

Through the BCP,  Prof. Dieter Maurer from Zurich is continuing his comparative study of the early development of artistic expression in young children in different cultures.  Assisted by Nyoman Witama of BCP, he has been working with Balinese children from urban and rural environments in both Ubud and Munduk  

We are pleased to welcome Wayan Sudiadnyana to the BCP board as Director of Education in Bali.   Wayan Sedana will continue to represent the BCP as our legal council in Bali.  We also welcome Pam Weatherford and Andy Pollock of San Francisco to the parent board in California.   Andy brings his valuable legal expertise to the BCP.

 Our wonderful Office Manager, Kadek Liatini, who already carries a heavy load, has created an extremely successful and well received pre-kindergarten which serves Penestanan and several near-by villages. This is enabling 3 and 4 year olds to start their education at an extremely nominal cost and the children and their parents are thrilled. Because formal education in Bali starts at age 7 officially in the first grade, both the pre-K and the kindergartens have been very important. Kadek is also finishing her college education herself, as well as working with BCP.   

Nyoman Witama continues to teach English and provide support to kindergarten teachers in Munduk and Wanagiri.  

            Through the initiative of director Linda Moselle, the BCP held workshops with the Oral-B Corporation to bring dental care to school children in Bali. We are now working in conjunction with a local dentist to provide dental education in the early years and to treat children who are sponsored through BCP.  We are actively seeking volunteers with dental hygiene skills to work with us to bring this much-needed service to more communities.

             Karin Goris, our Art Director, is now working as a guide in Indonesia and other parts of SE Asia, but continues to promote BCP from afar.  We look forward to her eventual return to us. .   The BCP volunteer’s house at Purna will shortly be used to train young people in computer technology and repair, thereby providing future job opportunities.

             Sponsorship of needy children has always been a high BCP priority, and we always have more children than sponsors.   In addition to our ongoing individual sponsorship program, a fund has recently been established to provide special scholarships for qualified children who complete 6th  grade and again for children completing 9th grade.

We continue to be overwhelmed by the generosity and commitment of our sponsors, donors and volunteers.  To all of you we extended our deepest thanks and appreciation.  Several donations have been made recently on behalf of grandchildren and other family members.  Jacqueline Gourbeau from France has donated her time and talent to photographing and filming our pre-schools and kindergartens.    Rima, from Texas, has been very active, teaching workshops, collecting supplies and fundraising.

     We hesitate to identify specific gifts, but three recent donations were so original and so generous as to warrant special mention.  Hank Swann and Jan Sells, who volunteered with BCP earlier in the year, have returned to California and set up a fund through Caring Habits [CHI] to pay the salaries of two dedicated BCP kindergarten teachers who have been working for more than a year with no pay. The Meyers family from Australia has presented seven calves to BCP for our families-in-need program.  As the calves mature they will generate valuable income for the families involved and their offspring will be given back to BCP to help more families..  When Sheeda Cheng of Singapore was married last year she asked that in lieu of gifts, wedding guests make a donation to BCP.  This wonderful gesture raised $2500.  Since then Sheeda and Mark have visited our programs in Bali and matched the original donation with one of their own, making a total of $5000.              

Linda Moselle Venter, Joyce Scott, John Cooke

Directors   

 

UPDATE - November 2006

        In September the Bali Children's Project received an unusual, and extremely generous donation of S$3500 from Sheeda Cheng in Singapore.   She had asked that guests at her wedding make a donation to the BCP in lieu of a gift.  The response was overwhelming.  Thank you Sheeda for your creative generosity.

        The new kindergarten in Tangkup (Karengasem) opened during the summer and is proving extremely popular

        The Dental Hygiene program, sponsored by the Oral-B company, got off to a flying start.  The condition of children's teeth revealed through the program has highlighted the urgent need for expanded dental education and care in communities throughout Bali.  The BCP is actively seeking corporate sponsors to create the necessary support.

        Staff Changes:  Wayan Sudiadnyana has joined the Board as Director of Education.  He is also Secretary of the new Yayasan Bali Children's project.
Wayan Sedana has resigned from the BCP Board of Directors, but remains as our legal council   

        Our contract with the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Zürich has been renewed for a further year.  This will enable the BCP to collaborate with Prof. Dieter Maurer on his research into the early development of artistic creativity in children of different cultural backgrounds.

        We continue to be overwhelmed by the generosity and committment of our sponsors, donors, and volunteers.   In particular we wish to thank Jack and Michael Rush of Mann Logistics in Australia for their continuing school renorvations, Michel Dubeau of Los Angeles and Lynn & Shea Stiegler.

    UPDATE - AUGUST 2006

        Director Linda Venter is again busy in Bali.  She announces the opening of the new kindergarten  in the village of Tanggup in Karangasem.  She is also initiating a new Dental Hygiene program - something badly needed in Bali.  She is seeking support from a leading manufacturer of dental products and is also looking for volunteers with appropriate dental training.

         UPDATE - JUNE 2006

        The Bali Children's Project wishes to thank Half Price Books (www.halfpricebooks.com) for their on-going support and generosity.

        Changed phone number:  The new cellphone (mobile) number for Kadek Liatini at the BCP office is: 085237835853      

       UPDATE - APRIL 2006

Directors Joyce Scott and John Cooke arrived in Bali in mid-January, and were able to spend a few days discussing BCP matters with fellow director Linda Venter before she returned to New York.  Linda herself returned to Bali again in late March for two weeks over the Balinese New Year (Nyepi). 

     

Left, Joyce with Iluh, our star high-school student in Munduk  

The following is a summary of recent activities.   

Volunteers

Houses & School Construction

Schools

Thanks to the generosity of Michel Dubeau we now offer dance classes to the children in an impoverished village near Klungkung.  There are two classses with 45 children, and both the children and their parents are very excited at this opportunity.   

Each week we also offer classes in art and English. Because the local school is in such poor repair, the classes are being held in the home of the local priest, who has offered us space for a local office.  BCP hopes to expand its activities in this area, including further school repair projects .  

Yayasan BCP

Lipah & Bangle

At the same time we met several times with Gede, a remarkable local artist, who has set up and funded his own foundation to enable students from remote mountain communities to attend high school in Amlapura by setting up residential facilities nearby.  It is the BCP’s wish to help expand this innovative program.  In addition, we are working to collaborate with Gede in the bulk purchase of school books from Surabya in Java for use in schools in Bali.

 Thank you for your support.