August 2002 Newsletter
School Library
Ceremonies
School News
Staff/Guest News
Featured Recipe
(Sayur Tumis
- Stir-fried Vegetables)
Lessons held on the
verandah because the
classrooms were unsafe
Toilet blocks had been
unusable for some years
Very little storage space
for the limited available
school equipment
Gaping holes in the roof
let in heavy rain during
the wet season
The concrete framework
for the two-storey building
begins to take shape
|
 At
last it's finished!
With the generous support of many KLUB KOKOS
guests, as well as profits generated through people staying with us over
the past few years, we have finally been able to complete the new building
to house a library, storage facilities and an open-air work and performance
area for our local primary school.
It certainly has been a long struggle to get this building finished,
while at the same time encouraging a greater awareness by the local government
about the major renovations needed to make the school functional once
more.
To help those who may not be aware of the full scope of the problem we
faced, I have included a short history of the situation before work started
on school improvements.
Back in 1997 with the economic crisis hitting much of South-East Asia,
but Indonesia in particular, we began a campaign at KLUB KOKOS
to save many of our local village children from dropping out of school
due to financial reasons. Following the success of this campaign, and
because some donors preferred to give something for the school as a whole
rather than to individual students, we made enquiries at the local primary
school about making contributions of library and sports equipment according
to their needs.
 All
of a sudden we were having to take a giant step backwards in our thinking.
Not only were there almost no library facilities or sports equipment at
the school, there was nowhere to keep such materials even if they did
have them! Our own children had attended the local primary school in Ubud
where Cathy had also been teaching since 1994, so we were totally unaware
up until this point just how lacking a remote school such as Sebali Primary
was for governmental aid.
 After
a lot of lobbying with local governmental authorities, work finally started
on a new building to house a school library in 2000 (refer to the School
News section of the June 2000 Newsletter). Initially progress was
quite slow, because our work force and finances were limited, having other
building projects underway at the same time, including the completion
of KLUB KOKOS.
Once the concrete had been poured for the upper floor of the building,
the downstairs area was used for temporary classrooms while the roof of
the rest of the school was replaced and the buildings refurbished.
|
The decorative Balinese entrance to the
library matches the design of the rest of the school |
|
 Earlier
this year finances again allowed us to resume work to finally complete
the new building. With so many of our building gang having children of
their own at the school, and/or having been past students there themselves,
a personal interest in the building's progress was taken by all of them.
Work neared completion as the school year came to a close in June, so
we planned to have the Ngulapin (blessing ceremony) for the new
building to coincide with the end-of-year farewell to the Year 6 students,
who would be going on to secondary education.
|
|
The children performed traditional Balinese
dances, beginning with the Panyembrama (Welcome Dance)
Sekar Ibing Dance
The Year 6 class respond to the farewell with a speech and song of thanks
for their time at primary school
|
|
 Children
from the school demonstrated their talents to the rest of the school community
and invited guests by performing traditional Balinese dances. We were
most impressed with the variety of dances that these children were now
able to perform, having begun dance lessons once more at the school after
hours two afternoons  a
week since KLUB KOKOS
had provided the school with their own tape recorder the previous year.
These lessons should now be able to continue in all weathers with their
new venue in the open-air upstairs area of the building.
 Goodbyes
were said to the newly graduated Year 6 class by students in Year 5, a
traditional farewell that is given each year. This is a big step for the
graduates as there is no secondary school in this area, and they must
now compete in their future schooling with the more cosmopolitan students
in the Ubud area.
 A
short comical play was also performed by the Year 4 teacher with two of
his students to illustrate the importance of proper litter disposal -
still a very big problem in Bali.
|
|
Krishna officially hands over the new
school library building to representatives from the community and local
government
Staff, students and invited guests enjoy
the new venue
|
|
This was followed by a series of speeches. Then, on behalf of all of
those who have kindly donated money towards the new school library building,
Krishna officially handed the new building over to the community and government,
to work together to make the best use of it for the community's advancement.
 Since
officially opening the building, the builders have been erecting all of
the shelving for the library and storage area, which is almost complete
as I write this newsletter. Additional (and ongoing) support is required
for the purchase of the many books that we now plan to buy, mainly in
the Indonesian or Balinese languages, for students, teachers and other
interested members of the community to read. We would be grateful for
any support that you can give us, either with this or with the continued
direct sponsorship of a number of students who are unable to afford the
cost of schooling (please refer to the section School
News in this newsletter about this).
[next - Ceremonies
in Bangkiang Sidem & Ubud]
|
The
parent community of Sebali and Bangkiang Sidem got together to make all
of the offerings necessary to hold a mecaru (cleansing ceremony)
and Ngulapin for the new library building on June 28th. The local
gamelan orchestra also played during the ceremony.
