The Bali Children Foundation’s (BCF) focus is to educate poor and remote children on Bali, with an initial aim to overcome the very high school dropout rates in rural communities at the end of Elementary school. The communities Buddha to Buddha support include 4 villages with 57 students under scholarship. This group of villages is in rural Northern Bali- several are hard to get to, often in mountainous areas, close to the Lovina township, To assist parents keeping children at school, BCF scholarships provide school fees, school uniforms, school shoes, school bag, books, stationery and a hygiene kit. Very remote children receive transport assistance. To aid Margaret’s cause Buddha to Buddha has developed a special charity collection. As Batul Loomans, founder of Buddha to Buddha describes it: ‘A jewel is a wonderful communication tool. You wear it, it is visible and it says something about you as a person. To add to this experience, we have used inspiring texts in the designs, such as: “Embrace Life”, “Be Aware and Share”. This calls for a reaction; you challenge and hopefully evoke positive thoughts in yourself and others. This is the first time we have created pieces with such a strong message, but we feel it’s the right time and the foundation deserves all the help they can get. Hopefully with the sales of this collection we can give the underprivileged children of Bali a chance to educate themselves and work towards a better future.’
Margeret Barry
Excited by the extraordinary co-operation between the Balinese, expatriate and tourist communities under extreme circumstances, she saw the opportunity to take those efforts beyond the disaster, into something sustainable. Working with 26 rural communities and 5 orphanages, Bali Children provide scholarships for over 560 deserving children, and offers direct teaching in English and computer studies to more than 800 children in Northern and Western Bali. Typical drop out rates in de past were 30 – 65% depending on the remoteness and poverty levels within the communities. The program so far has been very successful with all communities now showing a zero drop out rate after elementary and junior high school. Children are now staying on at school to year 12 graduation with many continuing to Tertiary studies. They currently support 20 students at university. This number will increase as another 40 students graduated in June 2013.
Background story Bali Children Foundation Bali Children Foundation has been operating as an education focused NGO in Bali for more than ten years. The Foundation started soon after the Bali bombing in October 2002, when the founder Margeret Barry worked with victims, doctors, hospital staff and volunteers to assist the injured and their families. 13|