Corona Diaries 21 April 2020
I sit here on April 21st 2020, like the rest of the world in complete disbelief of how a virus can create such diabolical havoc.
Having lived in Bali , Indonesia for almost 11 years now, I have been through bird flu, swine flu, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Nothing could have prepared me for this.
3 years ago, during Agung, I joined together with a group of like minded individuals to help the evacuees with food and sundries and a dry, safe space to stay, which eventually led us into becoming a foundation (yayasan) .
That was nothing compared to what we face now, job losses are decimating the community here, hotel owners and dive companies are in despair wondering how long they can survive this and hearts breaking over not being able to ensure their employees , or themselves for that matter, can weather the financial impact.
Imagine building your small business and having 25 employees that have helped you become a success, they become your family. Imagine being confident enough to take on a second property and the responsibility of more staff. Imagine for a minute thinking everything is great, so you decide to build your dream home for your parents and your family to live in, of course taking a loan from the bank against your assets to do so…...then comes Corona...everything you have worked so hard for now seems to be teetering on the brink of the abyss.
Let’s look at the employee, one person financially supporting aging parents, a wife and a young child or 2. No rent as living in a family compound, but loan for a motorbike, electricity bills, water bill if there is no well. Imagine if you will, that they actually get paid the minimum salary ( so many are underpaid and go without benefits that should be provided and the yearly THR bonus of one month’s salary) Ok, get the picture? Legal salary for this region is Rp 2,555,469 , that is before tax. Most are lucky in the service industry here if they even reach 1.8 million per month. How does this happen? Take it or leave it, if you don’t want the job, someone else will.
No healthcare which is mandatory in a legally contracted job, no holiday or sick pay, no yearly bonus.
Motorbike payment: let’s say 500,000 per month as a conservative estimate
Electricity- on minimum KW such as 900 KW - 50,000 per month
Food: Family with 2 aging parents, husband and wife and 2 small kids - being frugal and including rice let’s call it 50,000 per day x 30 days 1,500,000
urrently we are at 2,050,000 and that doesn't take into account any sundries such as soap, cleaning products, shampoo, toothpaste, petrol for motorbike, offerings, ceremonies and the like.
Take away tourism , what you are left with in an already impoverished region is nothing but despair.
There is no social security to fall back on, no freezing of loan payments, just an offer of 3 months of paying interest only.
People ask me why I decided to help this area, why I give my free time to service of others, how do I think I can make a difference being only a handful of volunteers and not a commercial charity with a marketing whizz behind us...well to be honest, I can’t answer that beyond saying that I cannot bear to see anyone suffer, if I can help only one person I will, but I am blessed to have the support of people who this all resonates with, so will continue to do so, for as many people as possible, until I take my last breath.
Do I sit with my head in my hands and cry behind closed doors? Of course I do, and right when I feel that it is impossible to keep going, someone is touched, reached, empowered and another donation sees us live to fight this poverty for another day. My phone just went “ding” a message coming to tell me that some angel has just donated AUD $1000 , bless you, I won’t name you, but you have just renewed my strength for today.
When fundraising stagnated last week, I decided to see if I could get it going again by offering to shave my head for $2000 of donations, well it worked and I have gone from mid shoulder length hair to a number 2 buzzcut. Last night, someone with dreadlocks to their waist contacted me to say they want to raise money for us too by offering to remove their hair, people are incredible!
They are my thoughts today, the second person in an hour has just advised they have lost their grandmother in Europe to this damned virus. Please stay home, do not move around the area looking for somewhere more “fun” to stay and wear a mask , even if you dont think you need it.
After meeting with the Kepala Desa for Bunutan and gathering the data that there are 3210 families that have had zero aid as yet, despair yet again tries to conquer me, we cannot even begin to service this amount of families, especially as they cover the poorest villages out here and there is no chance of funds coming from their Banjars. What we can do, is make a dent by aiding the elderly and sick, that is still 649 families which will put a huge dent in our funds with rice alone costing IDR 36,344,000. (around $3700 AUD)
On the way home , there is some random westerner, no shirt, headphones on and drinking beer , merrily spray painting graffiti on a building. We stop and question whether or not this person has in fact obtained permission from the owners- no of course not...also not from this area but has decided to come up from Canggu in the pursuit of open beaches and more fun than what is presented there right now. There is not enough adherence to what has been requested as far as staying home /only go out when necessary, wear a mask as per protocol. No respect by the 6 foot tall and bulletproof brigade.
This area is vulnerable due to dietary deficiencies , passive carriers coming in and passing to service workers could wipe out an entire aging population.
Frustration, sadness, joy and back again seem to be a daily pattern now.. But we will continue for as long as we can, with yet another miracle appearing when the day seems at its darkest.