‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ show for disadvantaged children

Ni Luh Paswati came all the way from a remote village in Kubu, Karangasem, just to watch a one-hour magic show at a luxurious hotel in Nusa Dua. She traveled by bus for almost four hours with dozens of children from the same village.

Paswati covered herself with a new red jacket. She looked pale, but smiled as she watched a magic show at The Westin International hotel on Saturday night.    

On several big screens, Rhomedal, a magician, performed simple tricks to the cheers of spectators. Hundreds of children swarmed to the edge of the stage, begging the magician to invite them on stage.

Songs from American pop singer Justin Beiber accompanied the merriment that night.
From the row where Paswati and her friends watched the show, the smell of motion sickness medication filled the air.

“It’s very cold here, and I feel sick,” Paswati said. Not only Paswati, but some parents from Sukadana and Tianyar villages also looked pale. They were not adapted to the air conditioning in the hotel’s main conference hall.

In another part of the hall, no one wore jackets. Some even wore tanktops. Most of the spectators were foreign tourists who spent their Saturday night watching A Magical Night with Rhomedal the Master.

“I’ve been preparing for this trip for five days. This is the first time I have ever been here,” said Ni Nengah Juliartini, 10.

For Juliartini, a trip to Nusa Dua to watch the show was an adventure.

“This might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me,” she said.  

The underprivileged children could experience this rare adventure thanks to the I’m An Angel (IAA) philantrophic community, which has carried out social programs in the village.

IAA founder Asana Viebeke Lengkong booked 50 seats that night for children from Karangasem, including Rp 100,000 (US$11.20) tickets for magic lessons Rp 50,000 tickets for the magic show.

The organization also provided transportation, meals and jackets for them. “This trip must be very hard for them,” Asana said.

These children lead an underprivileged life, she said. “They walk more than an hour to go to school. They have poor nutrition. They might even drop out of school.”

Before the show began, IAA took the children to play on Nusa Dua beach to play games.

It is hard to encourage children from poor villages to study, especially those who have no family or relatives.

“We approached some children who were abandoned by their parents and placed in the care of neighbors. [We gave] them clothes, money and persuaded their surrogate parents to encourage them to go to school,” said Asana, whose organization assists more than 20,000 poor children.

The condition has motivated IAA to create an early childhood education program for children between one to five years of age.

It is crucial to introduce education to these children as early as possible and to advise parents on the importance of education, especially in remote areas, Asana said.   

According to the Bali Education Agency, there are 129,848 underprivileged children between six and 18 years old in Bali. The children are prone to drop out or not attend school, Asana said.

The provincial administration has allocated funds under the Operation School Assistance (BOS) scheme to help the children, and gives annual stipends of Rp 400,000 to each high school student and Rp 500,000 to each vocational school student.

However, Asana said cash would not be enough to curb the dropout rate since Bali needed adequate education facilities, including school building, public transportation and teachers.