Wellington pair help tourism for Bali poor
To feed a Balinese family for a week costs less than $14, but with about 80 per cent of businesses in the country dependent on tourism, even that amount is hard to come by.
A Wellington couple are rallying an effort to collect money for food packages for those struggling in their Bali community.
Over the past few months, tourism there dropped by more than 90 per cent, affecting almost 4 million lives.
Dane Te Wharaupo¯ Robertson and wife Libby Wallace are from Wellington, but left their corporate jobs two years ago and made the move to Bali, where Libby works as an online business coach.
Robertson was involved in the rugby community in Bali, coaching, playing, and helping out, and recognised the toll the lack of tourists was having on his community.
‘‘It was one night seven weeks ago when a local street vendor, whose food cart, a scooter with a small kitchenette attached on the back, is usually frequented by tremendous lines of local workers, was empty.’’
With no customers, that man would have gone a whole night without earning any money.
‘‘With no welfare system, you’re left to the whims of society.’’
He drew on his network of rugby contacts, and the knowledge of a friend who kept a database of rugby players, to figure out who was most in need. ‘‘That night, we asked our expat community for donations as we wanted to buy food bags for families within the rugby community, which I was a part of – and the response was huge.’’
To provide 100 families with the essentials of rice, eggs, noodles, oil, and sugar would cost about $1350 per week.
‘‘Not only did we receive enough money to feed 20 families for that week, but the ongoing support we’ve received has allowed us to so far feed almost 200 families in the past four weeks since we’ve been delivering food.’’
They delivered food packages every Friday evening and the team, which had grown from the couple to up to 13 volunteering expats and locals, had a new goal of feeding 100 families a week.
The reception wasn’t always emotional, but families were quietly appreciative of the help.
The plan was to continue the project after Covid-19.
Find out how you can help at facebook.com/ hope2fam/ or Instagram @hope2fam.