Poverty project promising

Poverty project promising

Thank you for publishing Murdani Usman's article Balinese
artists help children to be happy in the Sept. 20 edition of The
Jakarta Post, which certainly gives an insight into the lives of
one of the most isolated communities in Bali. The excellent
photographs help to transport the reader to this amazing and
unspoilt corner of the world.

If not for the initiative and enthusiasm of Matamera's
Creative Director, I really didn't know how we could attain this
goal. Now it seems a little nearer.

The children's ability to produce some remarkable ink drawings
was a tribute to the skill of artist Made Budiana, aided by the
fresh minds of the children, who through their true isolation had
never been exposed to any outside influence except for East Bali
Poverty Project staff and the regular visits of our key donors
and sponsors such as Sari Tours, British Women's Association,
American Women's Association, Bali Dynasty Resort, Hard Rock
Hotel Bali and the Balinese volunteer dentists from Saraswati
University in Denpasar.

In 1998, when East Bali Poverty Project field staff
interviewed over 1,000 families in 1998 in order to try to work
out a list of their priorities in development, they chose
"education for our children".

Once the foundation was established in July 1998, we started
from zero with a community that had almost no contact with the
outside world. Initiating the first education project took a long
time due to the lack of motivation and understanding of the
parents, and their difficulty in planning who was now to get the
water, and replace the children to maintain their dry-land
cassava farms. Yet, with our sensitive participatory approach,
progress was fast, and all the signs are now that our goal of
empowering the community to sustainability and self-reliance can
be attained.

DAVID J. BOOTH

Founder & Vice Chairman

East Bali Poverty Project

Bali