03-OCT - Thu - Felice and her goodwill

We have discovered a beautiful vegetarian warung run by a young woman named Felice, her sister and friends. Her warung is a bamboo structure, with thatched roof, woven bamboo sheets as walls, and all the furniture is made from the local bamboo, tables and all. A cosy setting. We decided to make it our dinner haunt for the week, after tasting one of her dishes of fried tempeh (soy bean product) in a delicious sauce, served with kankong (local spinach). A taste buds explosion! But Felice’s warung has a twist: she uses a part of her profits to support an orphanage, moreover once a week, Saturdays, she closes her restaurant to cook for the local kids, who are selling goods on the beach all week, trying to give them some respite from their hard work. How can we not support such a business? She is even intending to set up a foundation, maybe finding a job in Australia, to earn more money to give back into her community. We brought some colouring in books and pencils from Australia, with the intention of giving it to local kids. In Bali, it is hard to find rural spots. On our rides around Kuta we see many families, but which one do you decide to give something and which one not? If destiny or faith has an influence in life, it definitely played its card right into the palm of our hand, we gave our colouring in books and pencils to Felice, to use with her kids, and we most definitely will keep dining at her warung for the rest of our stay! Indeed for us, here in a location that does not yet depend on tourism, it has made us question what we should do: support the locals who have made the gutsy business decision to abandon their more traditional work to establish a shop selling goods for the tourists; buy from locals walking the beach selling coconuts or pineapple; negotiate with group of ladies selling sarongs and blankets; purchase some bracelets from kids? What is the alternative? Should we not purchase anything and thus promote this kind of activity, as more and more locals might abandon their traditional way of life to suddenly depend on the volatile tourism industry? But how can you deny a monetary reward to an old man, older than our parents, walking the beach with heavy coconuts, under the midday sun, selling them for A$1 each? How can you not buy bracelets from the local kids who try so hard to make you smile, when they cost A$2 each? Who has got it in his heart to say no to a group of ladies, walking this remote beach to sell the most beautiful blankets (locally made according to them, but even if they are not, does it matter?). How can we be the type of tourist that uses their water, uses all their town’s facility, and just sits on the beach all day, buying absolutely nothing from the local merchants? In our hearts we know that buying a few things from each single seller hopefully does something positive and we will keep doing just that.