The Gift of Give And Take - The Jodie O' Shea House Bali
To all those who bought the 210 limited edition Deus Christmas Boxes we prepared for our Indonesian store over December & January, this one is for you. In February we were able to make good on our promise that 15% of the sales price was to be given to the Jodie O’Shea Orphanage in Denpasar Bali. The orphanage is named after one of the young victims of the tragic 2002 Bali Bombings.
With 92 children in their care, the people who work there, certainly have their work cut out for them. They range in age from the gorgeous Maria who is only 3 months and has a shock of hair and can’t help but tickle the soft side of every human she comes into contact with, up to a few 18 years olds, who will soon empty out into the world to make a name for themselves. We hoped that this small donation; which we had transferred into food, toiletries, bedding, books, and blankets would go some short way to providing some respite.
About a baker’s dozen of us rode over there on Saturday afternoon to unload the items but also to feel this human tragedy up close, personal, and first hand. We wandered around the campus, several houses that seemed to have been blended together with liberal quantities of concrete and engineering ingenuity.
Most of the kids were genuinely happy and enthusiastic to see us. Smiling and inquisitive they behaved like kids the world over. Excited to eat some treats and open to the idea of doing some playing to get there.
Bohemian Rhapsody is one of those rare tunes that most people know, Daniel knew it and played us his version on a big electric organ set up in their rec room. So good you could hear a pin drop. There were a couple of other talented pianists amongst the kids and after everyone had left the room an extremely shy young girl called Dea slipped behind the keys and tapped out some beautiful tunes once the attention had turned away.
During our visit we played a game that promoted the importance of sharing and the value of working together as a team, it was fantastic seeing how the oldest, who are in their final year at school extended an encompassing area of their concern and care out over the younger kids. There was more than a warmth in the air. You felt like you were with family.
We were able, for a small window of time, to explore the children’s daily activities, these children have undergone an amazing transformation. Prior to coming to the orphanage all of them had grown up in severely disadvantageous conditions. Some were malnourished coming from poverty-stricken areas, others coming from homes of one or no parents most of them had been surviving on meager hand to mouth existence.
Within the Jodie O’Shea house, they had created a home, the children nourished and encouraged to embrace a new journey of life they might have never known, an education, being nurtured and cared for, and having the freedom to simply be children.
But their story doesn’t stop there and since Bali has shut her doors to any new tourists the font of money that helped feed and clothe these children has all but dried up. They go through a lot of food those kids and rather than let them slide back to where they came from we are asking you to maybe lend a hand.
We know everyone is feeling tight, but should you have something leftover and feel the need to help someone then might we suggest that you donate to the Jodie O’Shea orphanage directly through the link below.
