Les Village School extensions BALI
During a tourism seminar a presenter made an aside comment that a tiny village in Bali needed funds to complete a school building for its local children. The village, actually a very poor upper village of Les, in the north of Bali was in the rain shadow of Kintamani, conditions were harsh, agriculture limited, foot access only and the children were crowded into an existing building and overflowing into the local banjar (communal meeting hall) (Fig. 1)
The second school building, which was a local community initiative to enable more children to attend school to try to break the cycle of poor education and poverty, had commenced to the stage of a roof on main supports and the villagers had run out of funds.
Following a field visit by a club member, the club decided to support the completion of the building and made arrangements through an education group, Ethical and Green to provide local support.
Construction was completed by the local community in 2012 (Fig 2.). All materials had to be carted in by hand, foot and motor bike.
Additional funding was provided in 2015 and 2016 for the project to be extended. This included building a facility for the teachers then renovating the ablution block, providing running water and rainwater tanks.
In 2017 the club provided further funds to equip each of the new class rooms with libraries in local language.
