10th September 2015.

Do you remember Sofianti, who spent all her time working to help her family? Now we have some exciting news about how sponsorship has changed her life.

We met Sofianti back in August and were shocked to hear about her circumstances. Her loving father had fell from a coconut tree around the time she was born.

The fall paralysed her father and had even more damaging effects on the family. It meant that they could no longer afford much of anything at all. They had to move to extremely basic accommodation, their mother had to juggle a job, looking after her husband and the children on a small salary.

Sadly, Sofianti’s brother left the family to live in North Bali, staying with a foundation that gave him school expenses.

Meanwhile, Sofianti worked every single day in a local laundry, earning 10,000 IDR (about $0.70 USD) to help her family pay the bills. Her small wages were put straight into the family’s earnings so that their mother could buy food.

No 8 year old girl should have to spend her time desperately working to support her family, like Sofianti. We committed to changing Sofianti’s fortunes, through providing sponsorship and were so pleased to find a sponsor in Bali Children’s Project support Carrie.

It meant that the financial burden on the family would be eased.

Upon our last visit to Sofianti, we were given the news we had been waiting for – Sofianti has now stopped working at the laundry thanks to her sponsorship! Not only that, Gede (BCP staff) took Sofianti for a special shopping trip; buying her new uniform, an iron, shoes, socks, school bag, books and school supplies.

It was a dream for Sofianti, whose family would have never been able to afford these things previously. Sofianti’s smile made our day and we are sure it made hers too.

Not only that, we’ve also been able to arrange extra curricular English lessons for Sofianti, who told us she wished that she could learn English.

We are especially moved to see that Sofianti can now enjoy her spare time like any other 8 year old girl – playing games and spending time with family and friends.

It’s an honour to be able to make children’s wishes come true in Bali. Sofianti’s life has taken a sharp turnaround for the better in a few short months. We can’t thank our supporters and Sofianti’s sponsor Carrie enough for bringing about this chain of events.

We are hoping to find a sponsor to help the family pay their rent, which only has a few months left on the lease. We would also like to purchase new toys, clothes, storage unit and mattresses for the family, all of which are costs outside of school sponsorship. Please get in touch if you can help.

If you are interested in helping change the lives of children in Bali through sponsorship, please see our waiting list or sponsorship page. It costs just $40 a month to give children opportunities that will change their lives forever.