And so Bali Hati was born. Frank chose the word 'hati' (which means heart in Indonesian, ed.) with the aim of impressing the Foundation's stress on humanism into the public consciousness. The addendum hati informs of Bali Hati's mandate to fulfill basic human needs - it tells us that it is not a profit-oriented organisation. Bali Hati serves as a vehicle to help people, an ideal which also happens to be Frank's dream.

PROGRAMS

Bali Hati certainly has a lot of things on the go. Its major project is its educational assistance program. This program, dubbed the Bali Educational Life Program, offers scholarships to young Balinese from poor families, thus giving students with meager finances the opportunity to continue their studies to university level. Bali Hati pays their fees in full and gives them a substantial allowance to cover books, accommodation and transport. The program is presently assisting fourteen people, and dozens more are queueing for selection.

Then what, I ask Frank, must the fortunate recipients of Bali Hati's assistance contribute to the Foundation in return? As Frank is swift to assure me, not money! Bali Hati is a humanist, non-profit organisation, and therefore only asks that its beneficiaries do unto others as has been done unto them ... at least some time in the future. "We don't demand material repayment for our services. We only hope that, some day, they will do for other people what we have done for them. We envisage the students as links in a chain - it is they who, we hope, will inherit and continue the project," continues Frank.

In addition to its educational program, Bali Hati also has a food assistance program, which was launched on March 23. The beneficiaries of this program are poor families from villages around Ubud, to whom rice, sugar, cooking oil, noodles, and tea are distributed free of charge. The Foundation plans to broaden the geographical scope of this program beyond Gianyar, and maybe even to encompass the whole of Bali, and has distributed flyers inviting those better-off citizens to assist the program by donating basic foodstuffs for distribution to districts further afield. Only one condition applies to potential donors: that their motives are sincere!

PHILOSOPHY

Bali Hati is indeed only one among scores of other NGOs (non-government organisations) on Bali. But the Foundation remains, nevertheless, intriguing, perhaps for its philosophy, which Frank eagerly recites: "If you give a person a fish, they will not go hungry for a day. But if you teach them how to fish, then you have helped someone to take care of themselves for a lifetime." Such is Bali Hati's motto.

Bali Hati teaches its students how to'fish' by reaching out to them and attempting to build up their confidence. It is only in this way, the Foundation is convinced, that the students will be encouraged to find their true selves and discover their hidden potential. And once discovered, it is this potential which will bear enough fish to feed them for a lifetime. In Bali Hati's thinking, every individual is unique. Their respective hidden potentials are thus as varied as their personalities. And, furthermore, the Foundation believes that everybody has a responsibility to put that potential to use in the name of the greater good.

Bali Hati's task, then, is to guide the students as they seek their hidden talents. For the most part, this guidance is about encouraging them to express their talents in ways that further the interests of the broader community. "I've been down and out before. And I know how hard it is. But eventually I saw the light, and I wanted to share it with those people who were still in the trap from which I had just been released," confides Frank.

While Bali Hati aims to help people find themselves, it does not aim to find them employment. In Frank's view, these are two different things. Helping a person to find themselves is far more important than getting them employment. "This is not an organisation that helps people find work. It's about much more than that. It's about self-discovery. Even if our beneficiaries do happen to get work as a result of having participated in one of our programs, that's just a fortunate side-effect," says Frank.

next