Help change two families lives forever

INTRODUCTION:

This is the story of 28 year old Balinese national, Kelly, her husband Agung and their 8 year old daughter, Gadis (pictured in the cover photo). Agung's sister, Suartini, her husband Made, their 16 year old daughter Sila and 8 year old son, Surya (pictured in the cover photo with Gadis).

In May 2022, only weeks after Bali re-opened its borders to international tourists, my husband Toby and I decided to go over for a two week holiday. During our first couple of days in Seminyak we visited a local Balinese massage salon, where we had the great pleasure of first meeting Kelly.

It was never our intention to come home from this holiday with life-long friends, who are now very much part of our extended family. The relationship between all of us has transpired into a very special one that has changed all of our lives forever.

Originally from a village in Ubud, Kelly was born into abject poverty and the lowest caste. She never went to school and still often, sadly, refers to herself as 'stupid'. Over the initial two week period we were in Bali, and what soon turned into daily visits to her salon, Kelly explained that her one wish was to be able to provide her daughter with an education - an impossible task given she and her husband were earning a combined AUD$3 per day, and their rent alone for their one-room home is AUD$80 per month.

It wasn't until our next visit in May of 2023 that we met Agung, his sister Suartini, her husband Made or any of the children, however before we returned to Australia in 2022 Kelly and I became friends on Facebook, we continued to communicate and a month later my husband and I made the commitment to put then 6 year old Gadis and Surya through a really good school close to their neighbouring homes.

Cut to today and we are two years into almost daily communication with the two families. Gadis and Surya are both smart kids who are thriving at their school and 16 year old Sila has enrolled into a hospitality school, working really hard and loving her studies. She's separately working very hard to become fluent in English and has made amazing progress over the past 12 months.

We head over to Bali again at the end of April 2024 and when we come home, in mid-May, the two mums, Kelly and Suartini, are coming back to Australia with us for a three week holiday and to fulfill their lifelong, yet impossible dream of coming here. Getting their passports and return tickets was the easy bit, however we completely underestimated how hard it would be to get them a tourist visa: letters of permission from their husbands were needed, proof of funds (only Kelly has a bank account, with little to no funds in it), proof of prior international travel (go figure!), and so it went on. But incredibly, after 3 months of persistence and an excellent visa agent, both of them have been granted visas and they're coming home on the plane with us. To say they are excited is an understatement. We all are :)

THE FUNDRAISER:

Please note that this fundraiser has not been set up to cover the cost of the children's ongoing school fees, or Kelly and Suartini's flights and visit to Australia, that has already been taken care of.

Every single dollar raised by this fundraiser will go back with them to pay off their combined debt, accumulated over many years to their bosses and to banks to cover the cost of essential items such as motorbikes, to get them to and from work, and to keep a roof over their heads. If they can pay for a year's rent in advance they get a discount and if they own their motorbikes outright and no longer have to make their monthly loan repayments, they can start to save the majority of their income and their quality of life will be significantly improved.

Currently, almost all of their monthly income goes towards paying off their debt, giving them very little possibility of ever getting ahead. Our target goal of AUD$5000 will clear all amounts owing and any additional funds that we might raise above and beyond this will go towards items that we take for granted on a daily basis, such as: a washing machine (they currently wash everything in tubs by hand) and laptops for Gadis and Surya, which they will need for their 2025 school year and onwards.

Our plan is to close off this fundraiser prior to their return home in mid-June 2024 and to surprise Kelly and Suartini with this combined gift from us all. So we have a total of just two months to reach our target goal, and I'll be posting lots of photo updates along the way.

Every AUD$2 donation will represent one day's work, and every single donation will go towards significantly changing their lives forever. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for all generosity given towards this cause.

Sally and Toby Towell