Day 15: Singaraja

Today I woke up early early! Not really sure why, probably because I went to bed around ten and as a result got just about nine hours of sleep. But, because of this early rising I decided to go to the Internet cafe with Erica, and as a result was able to video chat with my mom (hi mom!). This was quite exciting, and although I didn’t really present myself in the best manner (coughing and blowing my nose), it was still good to hear her voice and see Doby.

Please just admire Doby for a second.

Then it was into school where we did another issue breakdown, and I think it was the first time that we actually headed in the right path for this assignment. We then had to think of possible solutions to the issues we will be tackling. Although initially we were thinking of doing teenage pregnancy as a cause for student dropouts, I think we are now taking the more holistic view to the causes and reseults if this issue. This means that we are hoping to put together a project that both helps prevent teenage (and younger) pregnancy, as well as providing resources to those girls who have been forced out of school because of pregnancy.

Our proposed solution is still in the works, but as of now it is centered around a physical space that acts as both a meeting center and store. In the store handicrafts made by the pregnant women are sold, so that the girls learn both the skill of creating tangible items, salesmanship and gain knowledge on managing a business. In addition to this we are hoping to form a partnership with area universities where education students teach the teens, so the girls can continue their students and ultimately receive their high school diploma. In conjunction with these initiatives we will also be establishing a mentoring program, ideally with mentors who have dealt with similar situations, to help lead these girls through the social stigma, life changes and other challenges they are facing.

Although that sounds liked ton, we have more! To educate girls before they end up in this life altering situation, we will be establishing a related education program that centers around empowering young girls. Although information about transmittable diseases, family planning and safe sex will be covered, the main focus is to create knowledgeable and driven young women, who will enter their teenage and adult years educated and confident in their abilities. This is the area that will probably require the most work as we need to present the information in a culturally sensitive and relevant method, as well as work out how to attract students in a country where premarital sex is still taboo and not spoken about.
From our presentation we received a number of critiques and suggestions, and beyond question we need to continue our research, hammer out the details and keep brainstorming. However, despite all this I think we are definitely beginning to come into our own as a group, and I am liking the path we are on.

At night we went to the beach for a bonfire dinner, and two of the Balinese in our group, Ary and Putra, are came as well. Unfortunately for them they got to see some of the looser side of those in our group, and I think we may have just furthered the American stereotypes portrayed in movies. In talking to them I learned most of them don’t drink, and when they hang out it’s just talking and playing music. The questions they asked me were really humorous, as they wanted to know about the speed of Internet in the US, and also asked me about my mom being Chinese, (word has spread!).

Lessons Learned:

Balinese are really talented! Ary and Putra just started singing when we got to the beach, and they had quite the repertoire

Maaf = sorry