Cleaning the river

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Cleaning the plastic from our river in the forest. Every two days, our local team and our volunteers collect the accumulated plastic which is caught in the net we placed across the river. It is then taken to the main road to our garbage container, where a truck picks it up every 2 weeks to take it to the larger landfill.

Cleaning the river at Jiwa Damai
Cleaning the river at Jiwa Damai
Cleaning the river at Jiwa Damai in Bali
Cleaning the river at Jiwa Damai in Bali
Cleaning the river at Jiwa Damai in BaliCleaning the river at Jiwa Damai in Bali
Cleaning the river at Jiwa Damai in BaliCleaning the river at Jiwa Damai in Bali

Balinese wedding

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Gede, our gardener invited us all of Jiwa Damai to his wedding. And what a wedding it was! Here you see the groom and the bride in their incredible festive traditional Balinese clothing and make up. Both are very heavily makeup, as tradition demands. I was told it took five hours to prepare it.

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The festivity went from early night the previous day to early morning two days later. About 1000 people were invited and fed throughout this time.

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We invite you to discover the Balinese culture by staying at Jiwa Damai in Bali. Find out more by visiting our website!

Guests on Kuningan

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In June, the Balinese people celebrate the Kuningan, one of the highest holidays in Balinese Hindu Religion. On this occasion, we received the visit of these four lovely youths. Three of them were the children of Wira, our external liaison person and one, the neighbors’ daughter. They looked so lovely all dressed up in their festive ceremonial clothes. The boys with their traditional head dresses and the girls in their little sarongs and blouses with a scarf wrapped around.

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We invite you to discover the Balinese culture by staying at Jiwa Damaiin Bali. Find out more by visiting our website!

Balinese blessing ceremony

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This Sunday brought a surprise to Jiwa Damai. Wira’s family came, mother, wife and brother to dedicate and bless the new car. Looking at all the various offerings which they had prepared and brought, it was still considered a small ceremony. The hood of the car was covered with special cloth and decorated with fresh flowers. Goods, fruits and other items were offered to the gods, on the left for the negative energies to leave and on the right for the positive to come in. It was all sprinkled with holy water and supported with incense smell. The lower part of the car was hung with elaborate bamboo creations and will remain on the car.

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

We invite you to discover the Balinese culture by staying at Jiwa Damai in Bali. Find out more by visiting our website!

Barong Festival

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In the banjar(village) of Wira, our Foundation president, many ceremonies unfolded these last few weeks. Here is our intern Natalie with the village ladies carrying the Barong, a type of a lion-dragon monster, through the whole village. In the next picture you'll see our Volunteer from New York dressed in traditional festival garb with Wira in the front of a beautifully carved door at Wira's home. Kevin being very tall, the sarong is a bit short on him.

Preparing the Jiwa Damai Open House

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During August we celebrated the Jiwa Damai Open House day and we are happy to share now some of those moments.

Early morning balloon blowing in preparation for our Open House at Jiwa Damaifor our team and guests. They were given to the children of our local team members. It seems that the adults have much fun blowing them up as many were exploding as well :)

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