GETTING TO KNOW THE NEIGHBOURHOOD: THE HINDU STREET

After finding my place in the center and gaining some consciousness of the surroundings of the village, I was asked to do some research so that I could contribute to the blog of the foundation. So I took advantage of the new task due and I got myself around the neighborhood. As I have mentioned in some of the posts I submitted before, there are two main streets in Buitan, the Hinduism street and the Muslim one, what took me aback at first. Is it really possible to share such a small place in perfect harmony and peace where it has not been achieved in several countries which have borders shared (even with the international organisms keeping an eye on their activities). 

Anyway, as a whole Indonesia is mainly muslim, except for Bali, where the 90% of the population are hindus.

So I decided to divide the research into two parts so that I could make the most of the cultural and richness of this place: an interview from the hinduist families and another from the muslim one, within a week. This way, I started in the hindu street. Another volountarist, Carlos, from the IHF helped to introduce me to the families. He has been living here for 5 months, so it is so easy for him to get in the houses and make small talks with the families.

This is how I entered Yalas mother house and their way of living. Yalas is a 8 year- old student from Buitan who attends the school. As soon as Yalas mother, Putu (which is the name used for the first-born) saw us, she invited us to pass the door of her house. Well, I would rather say Yalas family house, because premises are shared by all the close relatives of the families: grandparents, siblings, uncles.. At first, I wondered how it would be possible to get some words out of the conversations from the local people, but the reality is that some of them are able to keep conversations in English. That is because some of them realized long time ago the importance of English as one of the most important skills you can gain in order to make a living in Indonesian, particularly, Bali. Truly, working for the tourism sector in Bali is regarded as the best of the options here. As the most profitable way of making a living. That is why IHF can play such a important role on the children lives.

We reached Yalas house and we took our shoes off as we got inside as a domestic ritual before entering any hindu house, and as a way to honour the Gods (don’t  forget we can find a temple in each hindu house). I am posting some of the nice temples from some neighborhoods houses below.

The first I asked Yala s mother was about what she thought of the IHF school, if she considered it more like a an educational or rather an entertaining center. She was absolutely aware of the contribution of the center to the English knowledge of Yala. She thinks that the good thing is that they are learning as they are having fun, and the fact that they are spending time with volountarists around the world helps to ramp their level up.  The children start English at the age of 9-10 years old. Yala is 8 years old.  How advantageous sounds that, right?

Her mother is so proud of her learning at the IHF foundation and so aware of the importance of English that she has a look at what she learns every day, the worlds that she takes in…”With English you can get a better job.  English and computer are so important-She said. It seems to be a plus, given the high cost of the university here. “ It is so difficult to join the university here, you need to have saved lots of money for years (…). Also, there are no helps or grants provided by the government no matter how intelligent the student is.  And I can tell Yalla is very clever because I have already had an English class with her and she has as well attitude as capacities. I am sure she will make a great student and also, with the provided with the foundation she will count on a head start.

When I was a child I wanted to become an astronaut (surely because of the cartoons I used to watch at that time). What would Yaya like to become when she is a grown up?-I asked Yayas mother. “well, she would like to work in a spa, give some massage, like her aunt”-she replied me. “But I would like her to get out of Bali, get a job with computers…”. I really hope Yaya will attend the university because she has great capacities. Fortunately, her mother is aware of the English and she work as cooking instructor, which is a well paid job here. Also, her father is taxi driver, so they encourage her daughter to learn English and attend the center regularly. However, there are other children whose parents just do not feel that motivated to do so, or maybe they just are not aware enough. Maybe they lack time to control their children ´s progress, so I can tell Yaya is fortunate.

Later that, I got myself a massage in the same street so that I could clear my mind up. There are two mothers of our students working there.”I am the new teacher of  “Yayasan” (foundation), from Spain- I introduced myself to them. After the pleasant hour of massage I asked them about their vision of the center. “My daughter goes everyday there, also when she does not have class, so that she can speak English with the volountarists there”- Dakes mother told me. What is the best job you can dream of here?- I was curious to know. “Everybody here wants to work for the government, but that is not easy you need to have plenty of money. Apart from that (and maybe more a realistic thing), everyone wants to become supervisor in a hotel in Kuta (Kuta the Marbella-ibiza place where all the Australians go to spend their time having parties) .

After having being interacted with the families I got some things clear: the importance of english to get a better job and increase people quality of life and the impact and the help that these type of foundations can have on the communities.

However, we should not forget that one of the consequences of the globalisation is that these kind of places become really dependent on tourism, making this sector practically the only source of incomes for the indigenous. But, what would happen is a disaster took place and the marvellous beaches and wonderfull landscapes disappeared? That sounds really scary, right?

Also that the hindues are so generous to their Gods, there were endless flowers and offering in every corner of these houses. What is more I like them having Godnesses and not only Gods to honour :)