Global Citizens

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. Benjamin Disraeli Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/benjamin_disraeli_108147 Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. ~Benjamin Disraeli  offering making workshop offering making workshop offering making workshop Our first activity for this morning was an offering making workshop.  It is very interesting to me and caused a bit of self reflection. The offering to the left is made every day and in many cases twice a day and usually involves an incense stick. It is a part of the norm that the flowers are everywhere. These offerings are not simply throw down some flowers but require focus and intention as the basket that they are in is also handmade from young coconut leaves. I looked at how we as Christians can't offer ourselves as a living sacrifice once a day, which only involves ourselves but the

who needs sidewalks One of the many sources of confusion as I wandered into town today is the lack of sidewalks especially when people are speeding along on motor bikes and cars. You just walk on the left side of the road and give the wheeled vehicles the right of way. Even in the city the sidewalks are the parking areas for the motorbikes for the most part and are sparse for actual use as walking paths. The Blanco museum has to be one of the strangest places I have ever visited.It has been in the family for decades and Blanco was an eccentric artist born in the Phillipines who married a Balinese woman and made this area his home. On the estate sits his original studio, a bird park, the family temple, paintings by him, and now also paintings by his artistic son who inherited the painting bug from his father. The art is mainly paintings of traditional Balinese women in sarongs only. While our tour guide spoke earlier this week of the fact that until Westerners inhabitied the i

BaliWise Hospitality training Today we visited BaliWise . The NGO is setup to empower marginalized women, conduct environmental education and teach skills to young girls in preparation for work through their sustainable jobs program. The training arm of the foundation graduates approximately 120 young women per year. They are in residence for six months with room board, pocket money, and training provided. They are then followed for an additional three months after they have been placed in a hospitality related field. Today we got to meet two of the girls and I met the job placement specialist who recruits hotels and resorts as this is the largest industry in Bali to employ the young women. They prepared and served our lunch and a morning snack. The Zero Waste Centre that we  visited is the public education arm. There were stations for weaving, dyeing, upcycling of soap, oceanography, and recycling. Soap upcycling program Soap upcycling program Hotels in Bali give their un