Bali Bazaar

About five years ago I learned of a new Children's home that had recently been built in the country of Bali, Indonesia.  The founder and director of the home had begun attending our church and was seeking sponsors for the 36 children, 18 boys and 18 girls who now resided there.  As I learned about the background history and mission see here  of My Fathers Home my imagination was captured and I became a sponsor of a little boy.  Over the years I have had opportunities to pray for my boy, email him and send him special gifts and photos from our family which are taken to him personally by the director who visits at least twice a year.  I have watched him grow from a sad little boy into a young man of quiet spiritual strength.  Right now, my boy at age 14 is battling brain cancer and I know that one of the miracles of his life has been that he is a part of the family of My Fathers Home.  Had he grown up in his village he would not have survived.  Now he has a fighting chance because of the prayers and financial of support of the sponsors of the home.

One of the ways I help out in addition to being a sponsor is to volunteer at the Bali Bazaar which has become an annual event.  While in Bali every year, Kim the director visits all the local artists and purchases items from the local villages.  This helps out the villagers who are very poor.  She then brings all the items home to Washington where they are sold at the annual bazaar and 100% of the profits go back to support the home.  Everything is always so lovely it's hard to decide as the choices seem endless.  Come take a walk through the bazaar with me.

 First, there were lovely wood carvings and hand woven baskets.   Look at the wooden serving bowl that has been carved to look like the back of a turtle shell. Some villages work together.  The weaving of a basket or box might come from one village and then put together with the wood work from another to make one of these pieces.

Aren't these carved angels gorgeous?  I picked up two of them to go with a carved nativity set I found here last year.

There was real silver jewelry and lovely bead work. This was where I was working.

There were these brightly colored purses

And beautiful lengths of material  That piece in purple and gold on the middle left went home with me.

There were even little brightly painted pictures.

We had a whole room set aside just for silken scarves.

By the end of the evening nearly every scarf was taken.   The colors were so lovely.

This is just a small taste of what it would have been like to visit the bazaar last night.  I would urge you to stop and take a look at the link to My Father's Home above and read about how three women came together to create a dream that has changed the lives not only of 36 children but the villages from where they came and all who have sponsored and taken these children into their hearts.