Sisters from Banja Pande Benoa

Wayan 15 and Kadek 13 are sisters and come from a poor family in Banja Pande (Benoa). Neither of them can speak Bahasa Indonesian and both only speak very limited Balinese, they are part of the 7 million illiterate women living in Indonesia today.
Their father works in the building trade but early this year he had an accident, falling from the roof of a building and breaking his foot in the process. He has been unable to work since and this has placed additional pressure on an already difficult situation. Their mother is now responsible for providing income for the whole family and sells firewood to support her husband and four children.  The younger children are only 6 and 8 years old and the family is now desperately struggling to survive.
Due to their current financial situation Wayan and Kadek are unable to attend school, with the cost of uniform, shoes and materials far too high. Both girls would like to find work to help their family and take some of the burden off their mother. Unfortunately, due to their inability to speak Bahasa Indonesian, they are both finding it extremely difficult to find employment.
A couple of months ago the sisters started attending R.O.L.E. Foundation’s Women’s School. Their father is extremely supportive, and would like them to improve their language skills so that they may find work and assist their family financially.  So far they have made slow but steady progress, attending classes for three hours, five days a week. They plan to continue with their education and improve their language skills in the hope that it will lead to gaining permanent employment in the future, and a chance to break the poverty cycle.

To be continued………..