History
2002
EDUCATION: THE KEY TO SUSTAINABLE CHANGE
Bali Children Foundation (Yayasan Samiarsa Seminyak) is a not for profit organisation, founded in 2002 by Margaret Barry, OAM, DSJ after the Bali bombing. Marg believed the tragedy was a consequence of poverty and inadequate educational opportunities and saw the situation as a chance to make a lasting difference.
2004-2006
A year into starting the project Marg suffered her own personal setback. As a result of an accident, she suffered a spinal injury which resulted in total paralysis. After an extremely fortunate but slow process of rehabilitation, Marg eventually found herself back on her feet. During her recovery period, she used her good days to rapidly advance her charity work. As she recovered over the next 3 years, Margaret worked with children’s homes in North and West Bali and concluded that a more sustainable model was well overdue. “Through Children’s Homes, we could only impact a limited number of students, and there were so many villages where the children were just as poor, if not more poor, than the ones in the children’s homes.”
2007-2012
In 2007, Margaret, Bali Children Foundation chairman, Agung Sutama and founding Board member Mike Dolbey launched their first community-based project in Corot, North Bali, supporting 40 students. With funding support from Paul Wheelton and Lyndsay Beer, the program was a huge success. Over the following years, despite a myriad of challenges, the Foundation forged ahead to empower a thousand disadvantaged children’s lives.
2013 - 2016
By 2016 the work had expanded into East Bali and the nearby islands of Nusa Lembongan, The Gili’s and Lombok. Scholarships, English as a Foreign Language and Computer Literacy was delivered to an increasing number of students.
2017 – 2021
More and more communities were added in all regions. In 2020 Covid challenged Bali and nearby tourism reliant communities. In response, Bali Children Foundation continued field education while schools stayed closed and BCF delivered millions of meals into impacted communities.
2022
While the pandemic continues, schools were finally reopened for a short moment and closed again. The new library spaces prepared to deliver Remedial Literacy, Writing and Numeracy for Grade 1 to 3 children now serve as a base for field education in all BCF learning streams. These libraries and 'Desa' halls are ideal spaces for food relief distribution for children, families, the elderly and the disabled.
On Nusa Lembongan, a community garden is established to offset the heavy food aid required to assist this tourism-reliant island.
On Lombok, school aid includes adding 'team teachers' into oversized classes (40 to 60 students), as teaching rooms destroyed by the 2018 earthquake are yet to be replaced.
BCF's recent Year 12 Expo, described tertiary and working opportunities for our June 2022 graduates. Providing information about tertiary learning, apprenticeship and working opportunities to students is an essential focus for the next few months. Education to Employment.