Fara's Story
This young woman is Fara. She grew up in Flores, a small-impoverished island in Eastern Indonesia. After her father passed away, her mother, who worked as a housekeeper, could not afford to send her to school anymore and at thirteen years old, she began
working as a public toilet attendant, filling up water from the well for most of the day. After work, she would walk around the village selling cigarettes for extra money to help support her mother and five siblings.
Fara heard about BaliWISE from a friend of her mother, who said that BaliWISE provides free education for women with no opportunities. Since she has been at BaliWISE, Fara has really blossomed and has already won the hearts of everyone here.
The Bigger Picture
Throughout Indonesia, young women of this demographic often face strong educational barriers. It is common practice amongst poor Indonesian families to prioritize sending sons to school over daughters. This is due to the perceived lack of employment opportunities
for women in the career level workforce. Without access to better means of employment, young women like Fara are unable to remove themselves and the future generations of their family from the poverty cycle.
Sadly, growing up as a girl in a poor community often means entering a cycle of marginalization and poverty. This makes it extremely difficult for them to obtain adequate job positions to support their families:
* 2014 statistics show that approximately 208,000 women in Bali are illiterate;
* Studies also show that the salaries of unskilled women are usually 50-70% less than the county’s official minimum salary.
* Statistics show that the situation is even worse in the neighbouring island of Flores with:
Our Story
Bali Women’s Skills Education (BaliWISE) operates under
R.O.L.E. Foundation. Established in 2007, our program assists over a 150 young women each year to develop skills that allow access to fair-wage employment. Our students are from disadvantaged, low-income
and at-risk families from all over Bali.
Through the BaliWISE program, we are committed to making a positive difference to the lives of local women and to fight the cycle of poverty:
* Skills education includes free literacy, English language, personal development, and health and vocational education;
* BaliWISE programs incur no costs to participants; full-time students are eligible to receive transport, meals, accommodation support, and a small monthly allowance;
* Our programs are delivered and managed by trained Indonesian teachers with an emphasis on meeting the diverse needs and interests of individual students;
* BaliWISE graduates receive ongoing support to obtain secure jobs with good working conditions and growth opportunities.
Our Current Project - Expanding to Flores
BaliWISE aims to expand and increase its enrollment to the neighbouring island of Flores. We plan to change the lives of a group of young women by providing them access to our skills education program. We plan to:
* Build partnerships with local community leaders;
* Establish local BaliWISE representatives to cut down on future recruitment costs;
* Visit schools, traditional markets, religious buildings and other social hubs in order to reach women that need help the most;
* Provide full scholarships to a group of at-risk women that are motivated to change their future.
Our Previous Success
* 90% of our students obtain a fare waged full-time career level job within three months of graduating the BaliWISE program.
* Since 2007, R.O.L.E. has educated 700 women in total, with 400 of them having successfully completed the BaliWISE program.
We at R.O.L.E. Foundation and BaliWISE aim to give these disadvantaged and at-risk women an opportunity to have a life free from inequality, poverty and oppression. However, it is clear that the issue stems beyonds the borders of this small island. The problems
of female illiteracy and gender equality are widespread across Indonesia. We need your help to expand our reach and to change the lives of these aspiring women for the better. A donation of as little as $10 can make a huge difference.
