The founder of Bali Street Mums, Kim Farr, tells a heartbreaking story about the children they saved.

It turned out that little Wayan Duri and her brother were taken to the streets by a gang to beg and sell tissues. Her mother died from cancer, and her father was paralyzed. He was paid $4 a day for his children’s work. Wayan’s older sister’s husband ran the gang.

He and a group of men would pick up children from impoverished families in the mountains, promising the parents money, and then take all the children to the streets to beg for 10 hours a day. The children were locked in one room and fed one meal a day.

The gang threatened to take Wayan away, and in return, the charity organization had to pay them 1,000,000 rupiahs a week. They kept Wayan safe under these conditions for over a month until the police were involved.

Wayan suffered from constant severe headaches because of the eye infection. It had to be removed. Bali Street Mums collected enough money for the surgery and found a way to make an artificial eye for Wayan.

This story sums up most of the things that Bali Street Mums do. Women from the impoverished villages in the mountains take their children and go to urban streets to beg.

Children often get kidnapped, trafficked, and abused. Bali Street Mums save people from these circumstances. They provide meals, medical help, and shelter if needed. Their safe house looks like a fun place, and if one doesn’t know about the background of the children and women living there.

It’s easy to assume it’s an after-school club. The children are busy playing, drawing, and doing their homework. They are not afraid of strangers and run into your arms for a hug.

The safe house is located near the slums, where people have too little money to properly feed their children and send them to school. The charity organization helps them too. The children there are suffering from malnutrition and illnesses.

Each day they can get a nutritious breakfast and lunch at the safe house, as well as education and play school. For these children from the hot, dusty slums, the safe house and little playground are a sanctuary.

Kim told us some more stories about the gruesome circumstances that some kids are in, and how Bali Street Mums is helping and supporting them.

Komang and Ketut Anih

Their stepfather and mother sent them to the streets to beg as soon as they could walk. They would work 12 hours day and night, running up to cars begging for money.

We found Komang alone on the streets one day. Her stepfather had sexually abused her, and we took her to the hospital where she underwent surgery.

Her family fled their shack in the slums and we could not find her little sister, Ketut Anih. We patrolled the streets for six months and finally found her. She was malnourished and very ill. We took her back to the safe house, where she was reunited with her older sister!

We managed to find the new location of the stepfather and are working with the police to convict him.

Wayan Wisnu 

He came to the safe house to ask us if his two children could join our little school. He is a single father, his wife died during the birth of their daughter. Wayan works on building sites and earns around $5 a day.

During the lockdown in Bali, he could not find work. We aided the family with food supplies, medicine, petrol for their scooter, and money for rent on their one-room shack.

Wayan now has work, and each morning he drops the children off at the Safe house for meals, schooling, and care, while he works and then picks them up at the end of the day. He is the kindest father and takes very good care of his children.

Alya and Anissa were found locked in a shack in the slums. Our security guard and social worker regularly patrol the slums. Four months ago, they were tipped off by some neighbors who had heard the girls crying.

Both girls had been sold by their father to a family who was filming children for pedophile sites. The girls are now living at the safe house and are receiving counseling.

Our girl’s well-being assistant, Angel, shares a room with them so that if the girls wake up at night, she is there to aid them.

The most recent initiative is creating an enterprise where women can work instead of begging.

Everybody knows:

If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day – but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

Now the women have a chance to work and get paid like everybody else, with just a little bit of help and encouragement.

Bali is heaven on Earth as long as you strictly follow a touristic itinerary. But even if you do so, you will encounter those in need. Give them a helping hand if you can and feel like doing so. If we come together, we can make Bali heaven for everybody.

DONATE HERE

balistreetmums.org

Recommendations for those who want to help:

First of all, make sure you have enough energy and material resources for charity.

It should come from abundance, compassion, and a genuine wish to help, not from guilt and pity.

Don’t give money to beggars on the streets.

Usually,the money collected on the streets goes to abusive fathers and other relatives exploiting children. It doesn’t help to improve their lives, often it’s the opposite.

Donate to charities instead.

If you’re concerned about how your money is being spent, you can always request a report. If it’s an organization like Bali Street Mums you can go straight to the safehouse and see what happens there. Donate at balistreetmums.org

If you see a beggar on the street, you can contact Bali Street Mums and tell them about it.

They will do everything possible to find the beggars and help them. The problem these people have might be deeper than just lack of money so they require a systematic approach like medical, psychological or legal help, they might need asylum or something else that our money won’t help them with.

@balistreetmums_project is Bali Street Mums’ Instagram page where you can inform them about people who might use their help.

One of the easiest ways to help Bali Street Mums is to buy something from their stall at La Brisa Sunday Market.

Instead of begging for money these women make cute dolls and accessories for sale. Once you purchase something from them you not only efficiently support mothers and their children but also get a little souvenir.