My village is poor, like our story before 2000. No infrastructure, no road, no water. So I like my village to be a sample around the world, to be an example location for other villages to be successful from the EPPP program. Bali is truly a unique culture. I think there are more temples than people here actually.
Everything takes on some sacred value and not everyone has seen this part of Bali. I've seen what most Western tourists have seen and that usually amounts to surfing and good restaurants and luxury vacation villas. Digging deeper, I learned that there's some real challenges, and there is a charity, in fact, helping people in need. The Eastern Bali Poverty Project, it's run by Balinese, and more specifically, Balinese from this particular area, from these villages, so they really know what's going on and how to connect with people. In June 1998, I sought out the regional government head of the Regency and he said, Mr. David, what is it?
Your approval for me to help the village of Ban. He said, where is it? I got him.
map out with a pencil I drew the outline of the village in the two mountains Agung Abang at the bottom. I said Dave I've never heard of it because in 95 the governor of Bali they didn't want to know poverty because they wanted to develop the tourist mares of Bali and get wealthy from it. And so the challenge was there, the people wanted help and yes, I made a plan.
Interviewed 1,056 families representing the 19 sub-villages and the information was horrendous. So when we are here in 1998, the village had no school, no road, no electricity, no water, no health facility. Most people live in abject poverty. About 80% of people live down the bottom as the guator. Because the people have no iodine at all here, we work with UNICEF and then they help to give the iodine capsule to all people here.
EBPP has ongoing projects for education, healthcare, music education, artistic education, language. Quite a comprehensive portfolio of services they're providing to these communities. And we're going out and documenting the work they're doing in the field. It's a pleasure for me to be able to help advance their cause through photography. My name is Wayan Marin Tiniasy.
I like music. I like guitar and drums. And I can also dance. I love to dance. I was not allowed to work hard at home because I was sick.
My heart valve was leaked and it had been 1 year. I know my illness, I checked because I was sick and I couldn't walk. Then I went to the clinic and they said my heart valve was leaked. And I still check up once a month. I am assisted by the School's EBBP and others.
I am assisted if I am sick, I am assisted by the clinic. My parents are very happy. I can go to school here and I can get a lot of education at the EBBP School here. So, as I was here, and started to provide services here, I found a lot of children who were concerned about the health of their teeth and mouth, namely, most of them had a hole in their teeth, and some of them had their teeth shaken, and it was time to be removed.
So, most of them still had holes in their teeth. So, it's better to provide education for children, especially children who are still in elementary school, especially from the first to the fifth grade, there are quite a lot of cases of this. My teeth were cut and then they said my teeth were normal. Then I was told to brush my teeth twice a day so that the germs would die. At Proxmox we've educated more than one and a half thousand children.
The whole goal was to educate them everything that they needed to know the person. It's so simple thing. It's not saying do this, do that. You're turning education on its head.
The bamboo... Something like that. In my village... There are many bamboo trees and I don't know how to deal with them.
I want to know how to deal with them. We teach them how to harvest the bamboo. We teach our kids about how to treat the bamboo, how to make a product. The mission of the bamboo program is greening our earth. If we just talking about empowerment or greening our earth without talking about the what of benefit for them will be nobody can.
That's why the economic is like sensitive issue to make them enthuseas, to make them more motivate to doing this program. The people don't know when the Mount Agung will be erupted. Sometimes it looks clear, but it's still very, very dangerous. The government increases or decreases the status, and that becomes very, very worrying for the people.
So many, many people now have to move from the village because of this situation. So the people decide themselves to find a safer place. I am very tired.
I am very tired. I am very tired. I am very tired.
I am very tired. I am very tired. I am very tired.
I am very tired. I am very tired. I am very tired.
I am very tired. I am very tired. I am very tired.
I am very tired. I am very tired. We have the health team in our organization and our health team go around every day to check the people and then to give them multivitamin and also check the elder people. Every day I will start.
distribute the supplies for the people so everything what they need like the food, the supply and water. We give every camp at least for one week, another one week and then after that we go again rotate. We need also some help, more care to the people and still very difficult to stay in the camp.
The most important thing is that everything that's happened in this village has been done because the people wanted it. And that's why it works. I know from projects overseas that I took over that were failing.
Why were they failing? Because the arrogant, Western mentality, you know, you need that. Do you? You can't, you don't tell a person you need it, they have to understand and want it.
A successful project is going to be owned by... the people then it's theirs it's the ownership and the empowerment. Fewer and fewer people take the time to read about things that are uncomfortable and often these NGOs are addressing people in great need and I think the visual story is probably more relatable than something written. The images have a real democratizing power we can compete with.
larger NGOs and present a story. We feel so proud to be here because we change the mindset of the community. Not just do something for ourselves, but the people. It's an important thing how we can help the people who need it and how we educate the people that's most important.
So for me, I want all people to be prepared and have good life and help and sharing to each other. And since the Eko Torin Foundation helped in my village, there are many and that's it. Everyone can go to school and continue to the next generation.
I hope that ABPP can help me to realize my dreams. I'm happy because from 1998 till now I have a lot of opportunity to improve my knowledge. To get a lot of experience in my life.
That's why I work hard for a good future for my family.