Bali Children

This time last year I was in Bali, with three wonderful women. One being Heidi Hornberger, an exceptional artist who travels to Bali every year to help with the sponsored children, and to continue her art work amongst the other wonderful local artists. This year she went back to Bali and wrote to us about the event she did with the children that I, and others sponsor. Below is an email from Heidi to the sponsors. (in green print) Hope you will enjoy, I will write more about my experience of last year with the children. The foundation that sponsors the children is called YKIP, also known as Humanitarian Foundation for Mother Earth.
Dear Friends and Sponsors, I finally have some time to get an email off to you about our wonderful adventure to the Bali Bird Park with 30 YKIP children last week. This year 3 more friends accompanied me to Bali to help out with the field trip and to enjoy the island and its wonderful, warm-hearted people. For me, the field trip and art project (that followed a week later) was a year in the making. In the end, it was worth every minute of it. My first great joy was seeing the faces of the 24 children from last year, all smiling and welcoming me, as if I had come home again. Their shyness lessens with each year as our relationships grow. So many of them I now remember on a first name basis and can send them warm greetings from their sponsors in America. The 6 new children are still very shy with us, wondering who we are…these huge white-skinned people who don’t speak their language and are behind their cameras so much of the time. However, I did notice that many of the children from last year’s photo project related to the cameras differently and now seemed to understand our enthusiasm for clicking away endlessly. The Bird Park was much larger and more interesting than I expected. The Balinese children do not emote much, as we Westerners often do so freely, but I know from watching their faces closely that they will remember this experience for the rest of their lives. SUCCESS! This is what I wanted for each and every one of them…a memorable experience.Later in the day we took them by bus to a park and art museum in Ubud and had a picnic lunch. Even after all the stimulation of the morning, the children walked thru 3 buildings filled with Balinese art and carefully looked at all the paintings. I was amazed at their interest and ability to focus this long. In the end, it was a fabulous day for all of us (children, sponsors, and YKIP staff). It means so much to me to be able to make a difference in the lives of these young children. They embrace our gifts of sponsorship, letters, photos and small gifts from America and run with the opportunities we are offering them. Often the work I do for these children has seemed exhausting and so time consuming through out the year. But one day with them is all I need to be replenished and filled to overflowing again. I knew, for the first time last week, that some of these bright young students will surely go to university with our help and support. And they, in turn, will give back what we have given them to their island, communities and families.Last Saturday we gathered the children together again and did our annual art project of gifts from each child to their sponsor. I will be delivering the fruits of their creativity to you when I get back to the States in early January. So this years project is complete and I will begin planning next years field trip with Rucina ( the YKIP director) while I am here. She and her staff are incredible!! They organized, planned and executed so many details that made the field trip a success…buses, food and water for everyone, film development, reduced fees for the parks, and on and on. They work with over 500 children in the Kembali school program (which is only a small part of their foundation), yet they always take the time to help us with our field trips and art projects each year. I cannot tell you how impressed I am with the quality of these people and their devotion to the YKIP program.. Thank you again for your support in this project. It means so much to all of us.Happy Holidays. Heidi For more information on the foundation or Heidi, check out www.YKIP.org and www.heidihornberger.com