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View all search results‘Canang sari’, kindness, compassion and love
Beyond the resorts and glossy brochures, the PKP Community Center offers vulnerable Balinese women a lifeline of empowerment, community and hope.
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An instructor (right) teaches a tourist how to make a canang sari offering during a workshop at a resort in Jimbaran, Bali. (Tribun Bali/Infinity8 Bali)
B
alinese people place great value on a cultural concept called ngayah. It is characterized by a rich tradition of voluntary, selfless community or temple work undertaken collectively without the expectation of payment. Ngayah reflects another Balinese belief, menyama braya, which literally means to regard others as family.
Together, these values foster profound mutual respect and cooperation, cutting across all social and economic lines. This is the living, breathing "real Bali" so many travelers hope to find, yet it remains largely invisible to the millions of international tourists who land on the island each year.
But it should be.
Few places embody this spirit quite like the PKP Community Center, a non-profit tucked away in Puhu village near Payangan, Ubud. You will not find PKP in glossy resort brochures, but its grassroots mission is vital: empowering rural Balinese women, children and families through education, vocational training, counseling and grassroots community development.
This grassroots organization focuses on empowering women, children and families in rural Bali through education, training, counseling and community development.
The center was founded by Ni Komang “Sari” Sariadi, who established PKP after experiencing a painful divorce and separation from her daughter in the context of Bali’s patriarchal family and inheritance system. Her experience has inspired the creation of a safe and supportive environment for other vulnerable women on the island.
PKP operates a range of community programs, including cooking, catering and vocational training. I experienced PKP’s fresh, home-cooked Balinese dishes firsthand at a dinner in honor of former governor-general of Australia David Hurley and his wife Linda. The dinner was held in July this year and hosted by the Australian Consul General in Denpasar.
