19th June 2015
Over the last few weeks we have had the pleasure of welcoming young volunteer Audrey to help at Bali Children’s Project.
Audrey first contacted us after she was assigned a ‘Quest’ project from Bali’s world renowned Green School. Audrey and her classmates were encouraged to follow a program they are passionate about.
Being a keen gardener and wanting to help children, Audrey got in touch with us, asking to help at our Herbal Teaching Gardens.
We were delighted to welcome Audrey, who was clearly passionate about helping. We explained our garden program and our future plans for teaching as many local students about traditional Balinese plants and their heritage.
Inspired by the potential of the garden, Audrey set about her quest to help us improve things there. She got right to work, helping to care for the garden.
There was plenty that needed doing – lots of weeding, watering and maintenance of the wonderful array of plants. It was so rewarding to be able to harvest the huge papaya fruits. But Audrey’s help didn’t stop there.
One urgent need has been for BCP to hire a gardener to keep the garden in great shape. Sadly up until now, we have been unable to do this due to lack of funds. But that didn’t stop Audrey! She went back to school determined to raise funds so that we could pay for a local gardener to help maintain the garden.
She managed to raise a whop ping 4 million Indonesian Rupiah ($400AUD) which means we can now afford the gardener, as well as some left over to buy plants for new plant beds.
Audrey’s support continued as she secured donations of new plants from Kul Kul Farm and Green Camp and lead a group of local children in planting them. It was a great experience for the local children, who learnt how to create a plant bed, water the garden and ensure the soil had nutrients, by using coconut husks as fertiliser.
We are delighted to have had Audrey join us over the last few weeks and help make a real impact in our herbal teaching gardens. Her work helps to improve the condition of the garden so children from the local community can continue to learn about their cultural heritage.