Bali Arts and Business Emporia (BABE) - covers many forms of business, art and the creative abilities of the diverse cultures of Indonesia and inherent beauty of this expansive archipelago that stretches further than the distance of Perth to Sydney or Singapore.
* Advice to heed is always be aware of the unseen, because there can be pitfalls along the way. Experience can guide you to better understanding.
Your holiday can be made far more enjoyable, without digging unnecessarily into your pocket. The Foundation offers this as a service vehicle at no cost for information.
* Crusaders of Bali (COB Missions to Papua) Child Carer’s - is a service affiliated with the Christian Church for those who bring babies or young children to Bali. This service is extended also to those on longer stays. Provision for the elderly and those seeking semi-retirement in Bali.
* The site provides assistance and service, without fees and relies much on the acknowledgement of satisfaction for its services rendered in supporting the indigenous people of Papua, under the auspices of ‘COB Missions to Papua’ in Merauke.
The ”Magdalena Van der Westhuizen Foundation” (articles in registration) is founded on 35 years of professional experience, (including entrepot shipments with Singapore and Hong Kong as ports of origin) from artists to logistics and guarantees that in whatever field the Foundation participates, a level of excellence will honor her name to the benefit of others. There can be no compromise.
The Foundation guarantees satisfaction by regular communication; over all facets of this website.
In April 1949, some 400 years after Bartholomew Diaz discovered the ‘Cape of Storms’, and later the Huguenots settled in South Africa, Magdalena Gracie (nee Van der Westhuizen) immigrated to Australia, taking her two children with her to start a new life.
In January 1957, Magdalena went to Bali by ship that did the ‘round trip’ from Western Australia to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia for her first holiday, since arriving from South Africa on the decommissioned troop carrier, “SS Arawa”. This time it was on a cargo boat “MV Maetsuyker” that carried less than 20 passengers and more than 2000 sheep (that were huddled in pens below, in the open hold). A cargo area, below the main deck with open ‘hatches’; that allowed the oxygen to filter thru’ so they could survive the ordeal. With so many mouths to feed in Singapore, their survival was indeed, very short. From being the Queen of Greece’s milliner, she knocked back plea’s to be Aage Thaarup’s head milliner, (he was milliner to the Queen of England). She thought ‘Her Majesty’ wore ‘bombs’ that did not do her justice and anyway what right did she have to tell ‘Her Majesty’ she did not approve of her taste. A law beholden to itself.
This was to be a trip of a lifetime and her first memorable holiday in 8 years. Bali was personified by its’ lovely placid people as she recalled ‘a pair of boxing gloves would never be appropriate on a Balinese because they did not resolve differences that way’. They were mildly assertive but not aggressive. ‘Celebration was a tonic for the future as well as the bearers of the past’.
She said, “You will never see an ugly person in Bali, once you see a Balinese in ceremonial costume”; words that are very true to many who have seen ritual processions, (of which there are many; with countless temples, dotted all over the place) as these people live for their religion. Radiance exudes from the heart that shows an inner quality that is seldom seen anywhere in the world. There are exceptions but not many.
In those days, Kuta, a seaside village, was almost a shantytown, recently discovered by foreign surfing enthusiasts. There was no centralized road system such as the Ngurah Rai Bypass and the main link between Sanur and Kuta was a narrow single lane road named ‘Jalan Donau Poso’ that weaved its way in and out amongst the paddy fields. People on bicycles, (most were ‘Raleigh’ of English origin) use to have to pull over to the side to allow others to pass. The mode of transport was mainly taxi, bemo, motorbike or horse driven cart, if one happened to be in front of you it was time to pull down the shutters and follow suit. Bali also had its ‘maniana’. You just had to follow the trend. Telephones were rare and very costly to install. Religious custom insisted no dwelling could be higher than the tallest coconut palm.
These were the times of the founding president, Bung Soekarno, who himself chose Bali as a favored holiday destination. His mother was Balinese from Buleleng Regency in the north of Bali, Singaraja, and the former Dutch colonial capital retains its identity. Batavia (now known as Jakarta) was the capital of Indonesia. His photographic memory was much in the order of his friend President Kennedy, who ultimately switched allegiance to General Suharto, and pushed the United Nations into accepting Dutch New Guinea’s annexation into Indonesian sovereignty. President Soekarno could speak nine languages. At a function in Batavia, Magdalena was introduced to Soekarno. Her ancestry went back to the De Beers of diamond fame in South Africa and Louis Botha, the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. This interested him much. Their conversation terminated with a genuine handshake and the exchange of the words “tot siens” meaning goodbye. She said Soekarno was a very charming person and was saddened to hear of his demise ten years later by the military dictator Suharto, who swept all aside to rule the country.
Magdalena lived with the imprint of Bali, fixed firmly in her mind. She had met Soekarno, again but this time in Bogor, Java. He had earlier survived a failed military coup from the Celebes. Her wish was that in her twilight years opportunity would allow her to live in this atmosphere of tranquility and peace. Thankfully, she did for the last ten years of her precious life.
In memory of a wonderful humanitarian and mother, the Magdalena Van der Westhuizen Foundation, chose to follow her words… “Better to give than to take and to listen rather than to talk” to establish the Foundation, (focusing on COB Missions ‘Crusaders of Bali, missions to Papua’ in Merauke, Southern Papua) in perpetuity to benefit the poor and underprivileged people in the community. Blood brothers to the Pacific Melanesians of Australia, just a boomerang’s throw across the Arafura Sea.
Merauke is the southern capital, close to the island of Yos Sudarso and the border of Papua New Guinea. The establishment of Christian Churches was fundamental to the Papuan people and it became a transit point for communication to the isolated swamp areas inland and to Agats, in the west in Asmat province.
She knew about the plight of the Papuan people from a young Papuan member of the Legian Protestant Church, who picked mangoes for her. He was black skinned and had frizzy hair, like his compatriots and very different to the Malay Indian Indonesian. His story unfolded as she listened, intently to the history of his people.
On her insistence because she was in a wheelchair, her son later visited ‘Ignatius’ and his family and understood what he was talking about. What he saw was a revelation of a unique culture dating back more than 40,000 years, perhaps 60.000 to a culture that goes hand in hand with the Aboriginals of Australia. To follow were more trips.
From the Bushmen of the Kalahari to the Aboriginal of Australia, thence to the indigenous people of Papua he had followed a pattern of seeing some of the most primitive of all peoples on this planet. His reflections are being collated into an autobiography under the title of “The Shame of America in the eyes of an innocent people,” a book that delves into the injustices of the past. It is a real life story taking in an adventurous past. The interest grew when he saw pockets of the Christian faith battling against the odds but going forward, ever so slowly in this ‘forgotten land’, in bringing in outside aid to improve conditions of education and health. What came in was token and negligible to their needs. North of the cordillera of mountains, most were Protestant’s of Lutheran origin introduced by German missionaries. South was a predominance of Catholics although there has been a tendency to switch to their own charismatic interpretation of the Catholic faith.
Magdalena was a great lover of the arts, from Rembrandt to bark paintings and saw the aboriginal arts of Australia progress so successfully under promotion of “the Garma Festival” in the Northern Territory of Australia, an annual international event held by tribes spanning the north, from east to west ‘Garma’ had its roots as the brainchild of Professor Fred Myers, an Australian anthropologist who became a resident professor at New York University. This was a road that she said Indonesia and in particular, Papua should take. “I won’t see it my lifetime but it would be wonderful to see the two cultures develop side by side”; to broaden the spectrum of artistic talent of its diverse cultures; the roots were already in place with the Asmat tribe in Papua’s south.
