KADEK - - - -

Kadek is the daughter of Missi, known as Lisa who works on the beach near the Ramada Bintang Hotel in Tuban (or South Kuta as Garuda now want to call it).
Lisa does our nails, including mine at least once. I save them up for her, dirty, split, uneven, with quicks that peel and tear all over the place. I keep on saving them up for longer and longer before each trip, trying to get a reaction from her about their state - but never a word - just action stations and hang on for the ride!

We had known Lisa for nearly ten years and never knew she had a daughter, which is unusual as the Balinese love to talk about and hear about family.
Our little photo album that we always take with us, filled with a new offering of home and family life, is always a hit and after the first telling one of the locals will often borrow it and recite those same tales to a late-comer and the recitation is always almost word perfect.
Part of our early conversations on the beach is always to catch up on their families' doings over the past year.
Why had we never known Lisa had a daughter?

On the second to last day of our '05 visit Herself was having that last massage and Lisa was doing her nails when she suddenly leant down and whispered in Her ear, 'Mum, will you help me get medicine for my daughter?' Herself opened one eye to look at Lisa, with some mixture of amazement and curiosity I imagine, and asked, 'What is wrong with your daughter, Lisa?' Lisa apparently became a little flustered and flushed and would only say, 'She is sick.'  'Let me finish here and then we will talk together', She said.

And they did.

We can only imagine the indecision, perhaps even torment that Lisa had been going through for at least the days of this visit and perhaps even for the days of our visits over the past years before, suddenly, erupting at almost the last moment, with her plea.

Lisa tried to explain that her daughter was small, could not walk, could not go to school (that grabbed Her attention), had broken bones, short arms - posing almost like a monkey with her elbows behind her back and only the forearms sticking out with suspended wrists and limp hands.
What agony for any mother to come out with all of this to a relative stranger, but even more so for a mother in Bali where any sickness and especially deformity, would probably be seen as the work of the demons, brought about by the family's lack of faith or wrong behaviour.
Little wonder that Lisa had not joined in the family conversations and little wonder at her reluctance to make a too-public plea for help in front of her friends.

Lisa explained that the Chinese doctor had medicine for little Kadek but it was expensive and now, (in '05) when there were no tourists, she could not afford it.
With a day to go She arranged for Lisa to bring a bottle of the Chinese doctor's 'medicine' with her tomorrow and made a phone call to Doctor Ari, whom we had used before when Adi broke her foot in a motorcycle accident, to arrange for him to see little Kadek and give us his opinion tomorrow also.

The Chinese doctor's medicine turned out to be nothing more than a super-expensive calcium supplement which was available from the local 'Apotic' (Chemist or Drug store) under a different label for less than a tenth of the cost, BUT, as Dr Ari pointed out when he contacted us, without other things such as a good diet and hormone therapy little Kadek's body may not be absorbing any of the calcium no matter who administered it!

Medical checks were scheduled for the following weeks including blood tests, tests for hormone levels, and x-rays with the results reported to our friendly 'Bali Banker' and relayed to us via a very busy e-mail connection. Treatment was prescribed, in writing, with estimated costs over the next 12 months and  approval was given for raids on our money bucket with the banker covering shortfalls, if any, until our next visit.

This year we found out that there had been some improvement in Kadek's health, to the obvious delight of Lisa, and that Kadek had spent some days at school, to the equal delight of Herself. With the help of friends in Oz we had a laptop computer for Kadek and her family and a new multi-function printer purchased at cost through our friendly Bali I.T. man. This we hoped would lead Kadek to further home education and to skills that might open up home job opportunities for her later in life. We also had cash in hand from other friends, especially for new clothes and toys for Kadek.

Needless to say we were welcome visitors when we arrived.

What girl does not love a new doll and in Bali a new blonde doll?

  
Family, and neighbours too, share in the wonder of a new red dress and other clothes.
Grandmother who looks after Kadek during the day, at the left, took personal control of the big brown bear and I wonder, even now, if she had ever had a toy of her own and who else might get to cuddle it.
 

THE BANKER'S VILLA - - -

  
An 'Orchid Tree', in which the house pot plants recuperate outside following a spell indoors and new 'hairy' ducks at the pool edge in front of the house shrine.
 

WAYAN - - -

Wayan has had TB since childhood and, like little Kadek, for the sake of a few hundred impossible dollars at the right time will never now be cured nor ever enjoy good health.

An oxygen bottle is her constant bedside companion but with the support of her local community she is found suitable employment whenever she is fit enough.

With the help of the same friends who helped Kadek she now has a good laptop computer and a new printer. Our friendly I.T. man will arrange home tutoring for her and cover the cost of this himself. Perhaps her work options will expand with newly acquired skills and perhaps she can work from 'home' when she is too ill to be far from her O2 bottle.
'Home' is one cement block room in a compound, with shared kitchen and mandi in the yard. The room is long enough for a bed and a storage unit made of wooden boxes at the foot and wide enough for the bed and a wardrobe.

It does not match even the rudest concept of a 'home' for us but there must be thousands of these in Bali and thousands of people spend their lives like this, thankful for the shelter provided.

The photo is terrible because we had forgotten the charger for the camera batteries, well flat by this time, and the phone camera does not like the back-lighting from Wayan's window.

ON THE BEACH - - -

Not everything in Bali is beautiful.
Papa under Wayan's hat and with essential candy bag, Ibu Wayan of the strong thumbs and the Pantai Restaurant.

Links:

*  Back to the 2007 selection page to re-visit some part of our holiday.

*  Back to our Home Pages for a different selection of information sheets, stories and pictures.

*  Earlier stories and photos of Kadek.

*  A Balinese welcome; On page 6 at this link, it's part of a much longer tale.

*  What's it like to have Bali Belly? Not for the faint hearted. Click on this link and select the  page 14 link in the page which opens.

*  If you go to Ubud (and everyone should go as soon as possible before it becomes just a clone of Kuta), and you're fit, go to Gunung Kawi, an historical site from the days when the courtly Majapahit ethos held sway in Bali. These huge rock carvings and the incredible cells and passageways carved through and into hard, solid rock, have to be seen to be believed.

*  If you go to Ubud and you're NOT fit, then go to Yeh Pelu, another historical site from the days when those Majapahit rulers, courtiers and scholars governed the island. This wall of rock carvings in the middle of lush rice paddies and bordered by equally lush forest with a crystal stream running through it all is a wonderful and peaceful way to spend half a day.

*  The Bali Travel Forum summary. All you ever wanted to know about Bali. The pages that most visitors to our web site are looking for.

*  The on-going source of up-to-date Bali information, The Bali Travel Forum. Ask your questions here and get personal answers. You will need to be on-line and give your computer time to fully complete the  connection