The Frog & Teacup

Starting a Charity In Bali..... Now Where To Start?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 09:31:55 -0500

Who the hell do I think I am?? I’m a big fat nobody. I mean, it’s not like I have any start-up funds to speak of, let alone any tangible skills or relevant experience in this area. How the hell do I think I can start a small charity in Bali? How does a 38 yr old, stay-at-home mother of one, get this big, old ball rolling? If I listened to the likes of Tony Robbins and his bouncy, motivated cohorts, all I need to do is think it and everything will fall into place…

So I guess this is the first step - getting off my arse to even write it down. Even if I achieve nothing else, I wrote it down…….though if I don’t achieve anything at all, I’ll feel like a bit of a wankerish bell-end.

My two previous visits to Bali had left me very skittish. Over time (and through many world travels), I have discovered I am not very well emotionally equipped for some of the more confronting elements of leaving the snug safety of my social security-netted homeland.

It’s because I’m a wimp. Not in the traditional sense, as I have no problem holding spiders, snakes or getting tattoos. It’s the other kind of wimpy. I find it hard to shut my eyes and have a nice holiday, when I know there are people outside the compound fighting for their daily existence, animals are tethered to chains in misery or waterways are choking with waste. Each little child on the street after 10:00 pm at night that holds my skirt and looks at me with pleading eyes, begging me for help, smashes my heart. Watching ponies being whipped without mercy, stumbling in the heat, while fat uncaring tourists ride in the attached buggies leaves me sick to my stomach (and wanting to ‘junk punch’ all who ride on them). The overpowering stench of rubbish in what used to be a beautiful little stream, gets my inner eco warrior doing it’s little war dance…

My wimpy emotions usually make it to day four before they spew forth on whoever my unlucky travel companion happens to be. Usually by this stage, I am consoling my achy soul with gin and tonic and probably resembling a ranting, chubby, pissed, blonde, low grade combination of Che Guevera and Johnny Rotten. I espouse a Vesuvius of twaddle depicting revolution, a bit of vegetarianism and saving, well… everything. When my verbal font of ideas stops, I am usually met with the same nauseated stare and a humorless, veiled enquiry as to why I am once again ruining another holiday, with my left wing bullshit (their point is never lost on me). The other response I usually get is usually along the lines of, “The problem is just too big, you cannot help everyone, the locals are very accustomed to their lot in life…so seriously just lie back on your sun lounge and enjoy the endless stream of mojitos being brought to you, dude” *heavy deflated sigh by me*

Now flash forward to one week ago, when I reluctantly boarded a plane with my 10 month old baby to Denpasar, for a much awaited family holiday. This was the first time everyone had ventured overseas together, so needless to say the air was electrified with tension for that one factor, let alone my dread at the thought of once again sitting in a pool and crying for the 80 yr old lady carrying stacks of towels. Why was I doing this again?

From the moment I stepped off the plane though, something felt different. Maybe it was just me. Maybe my brain has switched gears since having my daughter. Maybe it was being with my family (who by the way, are emotional wimps as well but also very generous and socially minded). Maybe I’d finally had enough of my own hypocrisy and boring rhetoric and never that I never actually doing anything constructive? Whatever it was, this time around, I didn’t have a crazy rant only to fall hopelessly defeated into the cocktail menu. This time I took time off from the pool/sangria regime, got off my bum and visited an orphanage. This amazing place was run by tireless staff and volunteers. It was mind blowing to find out that the people who ran the orphanage were originally people like myself, people who had no initial idea about what to do to help but had the idea and went after it with tenacity. After seeing what a fantastic job they are doing I felt a bit buoyed up. Maybe I to could do a little something, no matter how small.

I know my limitations and also my track record with stuff like this, so I am keeping my idea small and hopefully more achievable. It involves collecting all the unused items like nappies, unopened toiletries or unused food by tourists when they leave their hotels and distributing them to the needy (somehow). I saw quite a lot of perfectly good items thrown away because travelers did not wish to carry them home and thought “I wish there was somewhere to leave them and know they would go to good use”.

So anyway here goes my first attempt at organising it. My first port of call is to get in contact with my new friend Nyoman and see if he can help with some of the logistics. Watch this space.

I’d greatly appreciate any advice anyone may have?

thatbohemiangirl: My Bohemian World Traveling pop-up restaurant...

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:58:44 -0400

thatbohemiangirl:

My Bohemian World

Traveling pop-up restaurant in Berlin with drag queen food servers. Reservation for 2, please.

‘The pale blue door’ (in Berlin) by Tony Hornecker.

This is a travelling pop-up restaurant made out of scraps.The Pale Blue Door’s capacity is 45 people and is popular with open-minded diners. Drag queens provide suitably surreal entertainment, singing to the customers as they negotiate the labyrinthine set and climb ladders in steep stilettos.

Beautiful xx

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:55:17 -0400

Beautiful xx

innocuousboxjellyfish: Ecological Bottle House, near the Iguazu...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:00:29 -0400

innocuousboxjellyfish:

Ecological Bottle House, near the Iguazu Falls, Misiones, Argentina.
Alfredo Santa Cruz and his family built this house and matching play house out of used plastic bottles, Tetra Packs and CD cases. They used 1200 PET plastic bottles for the walls, 1300 milk and wine Tetra Pack boxes for the roof, 140 CD cases for the doors and windows, plus 320 PET bottles for the furniture.

lifelongsummer: recycle lights

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:48:19 -0400

lifelongsummer:

recycle lights

craftjunkie: Repurposed Furniture Ideas Check out all the...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:45:45 -0400

craftjunkie:

Repurposed Furniture Ideas

Check out all the lovely ideas!

Found at: http://www.fixr.com

narwhalprojects: Sculptures made of recycled tires, by Yong Ho...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:35:51 -0400

narwhalprojects:

Sculptures made of recycled tires, by Yong Ho Ji

from booooooom

thedeaddollsclub: Something new i’ve just made, love thinking...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:35:10 -0400

thedeaddollsclub:

Something new i’ve just made, love thinking time

AWESOME!!!

the-stuff-n-stuff: Used party popper chandelier :D I love this...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:29:18 -0400

the-stuff-n-stuff:

Used party popper chandelier :D

I love this kind of creative recycling!

everydayisaweddingday: A great way to reuse something that...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:10:47 -0400

everydayisaweddingday:

A great way to reuse something that would have been considered ‘junk’ - now it’s a beautiful masterpiece

unconsumption: Digging these pendant lamps made from old...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:19:42 -0400

unconsumption:

Digging these pendant lamps made from old exhaust fans.

(via Design*Sponge)

JUST AWESOME!!

gardensinunexpectedplaces: Gardening in discarded plastic...

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:18:27 -0400

gardensinunexpectedplaces:

Gardening in discarded plastic bottles — a DIY project many people could make using bottles, string, and washers.

The installation pictured is enabling a family in Sao Paolo, Brazil, to grow its own herbs and vegetables.

(via Do The Green Thing)

joshduv: These “leaves” are actually individual, ultra-mini...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:32:33 -0400

joshduv:

These “leaves” are actually individual, ultra-mini solar panels. (via Solar Ivy)

dancinggoats: Speaking of awesome nature-imitating structures...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:28:10 -0400

dancinggoats:

Speaking of awesome nature-imitating structures like the Nautilus…may I present Earthships in Taos, NM!

Energy bill = $100. Roughly. For a year. Of course to build one is expensive, but they do Earthships internationally as community development and disaster relief programs as well for the eco-minded wealthy. Made of natural and recycled materials to create an almost self-sustaining structure.

Link to Garbage Warrior: http://documentaryheaven.com/garbage-warrior/, the documentary about Michael Reynolds, the innovator behind Earthships.

grrlandog: made from plastic spoons tutorial...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:13:18 -0400

grrlandog:

made from plastic spoons

tutorial here:

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/plastic-spoon-rose

Photo

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:11:35 -0400

allanamay: Mountain House Covered with Tin Cans I came across...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:09:29 -0400

allanamay:

Mountain House Covered with Tin Cans

I came across this article about an Argentine industrial designer Manuel Rapoport who has taken recycling to another level and has recycled hundreds and hundreds of tin cans to cover the outside of a house. It is really quirky and unique and I really like the image with the sun reflecting off it.

Article below: Argentine industrial designer Manuel Rapoport decided to cover his house in Bariloche, Patagonia, with tin cans from dry milk and tomato sauce. He also used whisky and cognac bottles to create bricks for small skylights and windows.

How to Turn Tin Cans into a House

When Argentine industrial designer Manuel Rapoport had twins, he found himself buried in tin cans from dry milk. After thinking they were a too noble material to throw away, he came up with the idea to use them as tiles for the house he was building for his family.

The cans were turned into sheets, which were afterwards attached to the house’s outside surface. The covering took only two weeks to finish, and they’ve been installed for years now. “They’ve acted as perfect shield from water and wind. The sun has degraded the thin plastic layer from the surface and they’ve began to rust a little, which I love. But soon I’ll have to use a cover for the process of rusting to stop and not break the metal.”

Besides the cans, Rapoport recycled yet another material in the house: alcohol bottles coming from the many night clubs in Bariloche (a city famous for receiving student end-of-course trips). The bottles were cut in two and glued together, used as thermic-isolating bricks for small skylights and windows.

And this is the resulting home now. Even if from a close look they look a little rough, the overall look is really different from anything else and cool. The sun of course creates a shiny effect on the walls and when it snows, the contrast with the snow is beautiful.

Apart from having built this house, Rapoport has a design studio called Disegno Patagonia, which also works with sustainability concepts. Some of his products can be found at Fabro.

akiraohiso: Upcycled Cassette Tapes Floor Lamp

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:07:10 -0400

akiraohiso:

Upcycled Cassette Tapes Floor Lamp

kylercoresearch: (via 5 Innovative Shipping Container Homes)

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:03:51 -0400

kylercoresearch:

(via 5 Innovative Shipping Container Homes)

Earthship Australia

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:44:18 -0400

Earthship Australia