Visiting Abandoned Elders in Bukian Village

Welcoming the second month of this year, we have our charity in a traditional village of Gianyar Regency, Bali. Our targets of this month were abandoned elders who live in Bukian Village, Payangan, Gianyar. We departed at 10.00 AM from our office in Denpasar as the trip costs about two hours drive. We were arrived at 12 PM and we stopped at Perbekel Office of Bukian village to meet the poor elders there, the target of our charity. Before our team planned to visit this village, some of Private Leisure staff had surveyed the location and those elderly, which resulted to 19 targets of poor elders in this village. Bukian village itself consists of 11 banjar, a traditional system of Balinese residential. These banjar have recorded as the place for 1,600 families or 6,500 persons with many elders.

There are 164 poor families on list under government’s care but there are much more poor families have yet receive government’s care and assistance. Most of people in this village are farmers though tourism sector has flourishing the closest area of this village. Head Village, Mr Made Junarta explained the condition of this village for us while explaining our charity program to the villagers by fluent Balinese language to the elders who were mostly only spoken this local tounge. He also explained if this village has not yet reached by the prosperity of tourism sector though Bukian village is placed nearby the famous village of Ubud. There is a tendency to growing home industry amongst local people as the form of tourism support but there is no direct access to the glamour life of tourism sector.

Previous survey held on 4 February 2012 when two of us visited 19 poor elders and poor families in this village. They were living in pitiful condition while most of them were elders who made a living for their own life despite their poverty. Most of the elders are lives with relative but just given a few meters of land where they could built a hut as their sleeping chamber. Some of the elders were making canangsari (a kind of traditional offerings for daily rituals of Hindu people) but most of them only depending on the pity of neighbors and their family. Every month they are getting food’s aid from the village officers who distributes 15 kg of rice worth Rp24,000. They were usually ate vegetables which growth around their homes such as cassava leaves.

After our representatives delivering our program, we dropped some aids for the poor families. The 19 families were getting a package of rice, cooking oil, eggs, noodle, soap and medicine. We were also slipping pocket money for each of them. The total of 19 poor families was tempting us to visit two poor elders. They are Desak Made Kolot and Ni Made Gelis. The journey of visiting first family was passing the lush of green rice fields with a long walking track. It sends us to a hut of Ni Made Gelis first where she lives with her youngest daughter. The hut built by bamboo and some bricks. The bamboo walls closed the three sides of this hut while one side of the hut opens to the outdoor breeze. Leakage has hit the roof while current hard rain wetting the bed of Ni Gelis which is only a carpet on a bamboo couch. She has entering his 85th ages with a daughter who is the youngest and didn’t married. We gave her a package of foods, a bed, pillows, blanket and some household amenities for this family.

Our second visit is sending us to the home of Desak Made Kolot. Passing difficult yet beautiful track of paddy field, the bamboo hut of Desak Made Kolot built on her brother’s land. She lives indepedently, without no one accompanying her. Everyday Ni Kolot is making a living by creating canangsari or other Hindu ceremony’s equipment for other villagers. She is sleeping on a bamboo plait carpet without any family to care, all alone in her 75 years old. She has some daughters but now all of them had married. Sometimes her grandchildren visiting her. We brought same package for her and inviting Ni Kolot also some Perbekel officers who guided us there to take a lunch with us. After this visit, we headed back to our office in Denpasar with higher awareness and understanding if there are much people who need our help. Our aid might be nothing for several people but for ones who struggle to live, it can be everything.

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Tags: elders, gianyar, Payangan, poor

Category: Families