Experiences: Bali Narayan Seva

Cindy van Essen and Wouter Pekela from Netherland spent 1 months at Bali Saiwa Dharma Orphanage, from mid April to mid May 2007. They write of their time below:

Wouter and I are on an eight month trip around the world. At home in The
Netherlands we had already decided we wanted to spend part of our trip doing
volunteerwork, somewhere in the world. Today looking back after a month on
Bali we are both very happy we ended up at Narayan Seva. After three months
travelling we knew the time was right to do some work. On the internet we
found www.kidsworldwide.org. After filling out the application form things went very fast. Only three weeks later we started doing volunteerwork at Narayan Seva in Indonesia.Being the first volunteers at Narayan Seva on Bali was very exciting. Since it was so new for both us volunteers as the children and Didi's at the Children's Home it did take a little flexibility and finding out what was expected of everyone involved.

Most children go to school so we decided to emphasize the fun part of our activitities. We made games that combine learning English and fun such as memory, and did a lot of colouring (the kids love Dora the Explorer). We would usually start at about 9 in the morning and finish at around 4.30 pm. Each day at the Children's Home is different. You never know which kids will be home each day because of the many, many holidays and celebrations on Bali. The children are divided in three age groups. In the morning we would start with the young ones, who don't go to school yet. Playing games and trying to teach them to count and read the alphabet for instance. The older group is also the biggest. They joined us in the afternoon and are a lot of fun. They already speak a little English so it is a lot easier communicating with them. They are very eager to learn (they will even ask for homework!)and pick up all new games and words very quickly. The eldest girls are pretty good at English so we also tried a little math, geography and took them on a trip to the internetcafe to teach them how to use email etc.

After spending time with the children we had time to prepare for the next days, making games and using the internet for ideas. But we also had time enough to see a little bit of Bali and it's really great just driving a motorbike through small villages on the island and seeing the real Bali.

The time we spent on Bali went very fast and it's hard to believe that it is already a month ago that the kids gave us shy smiles on day one. The shyness soon disappeared and we discovered different characters and personalities and really started to love all of them. Being a volunteer at Narayan Seva you will soon discover that there is no way you will ever be able to be mad at the sometimes naughty Surya (who is the youngest), Aruni and Kusum are very eager to learn just about everything and Kiran is so good at yoga it hurts just looking at her.We both felt very welcome at the Children's home and both Didi are friendly and easy to talk to. Volunteering was a wonderfull experience and we will never forget it. It really made our round the world trip more special. Thanks to all the children, ' Didi Bali' and 'Didi India' and everyone at Adi Mandala Ashram for taking such good care of us.

All the best,

Cindy van Essen and Wouter Pekela (The Netherlands)