Melia Bali community project SLB

You are invited to Join a Program Which Supports Children with Special Needs!

“If everyone does a little to help, together we can help a lot”

ABOUT CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN BALI
Educational choices for children with disabilities in Nusa Dua and the rest of Bali are very limited. Founded in 1984, SLBB (Special Needs School) Jimbaran is special school catering to children with varying degrees of deafness, autism and mental development delays. Funding from both state and local authorities has been cut back and the school now increasingly depends on private donations to fund its operations. The limited operating budget makes it difficult for the school to maintain its property and facilities, and at the same time prepare hundreds of children for a future as full members of the community.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Meliá Bali launched an ongoing project in 2001 as part of Sol Melia’s Community Involvement Program. One of the resort’s main concerns is to support better futures for Bali’s children. A pioneer among Bali’s hotels, the resort is committed to assist children with disabilities in SLBB Jimbaran and to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy their lives in Bali. Daniel Lozano, Meliá Senior Vice President, was the project pioneer during his assignment as the resort’s General Manager in 2003.

Sustainable programs have been established in SLBB Jimbaran, where the resort is located, with the goal of delivering useful skills and education to the students so they can become independent and productive members of the community.

WHAT WE ARE DOING TO HELP
The resort’s committee decided to assist the school and develop the children’s basic skills while meeting their daily physical needs. You are invited to be part of this inspiring project by supporting the Community Involvement team in the following programs for the SLB B Jimbaran.

PROJECT ASSISTANCE
Sustainable assistance by Melia Bali includes the opportunity for students to undertake job training at the resort up to graduation. After graduation they are given a career opportunity in the hospitality industry, especially in Meliá Bali’s laundry and housekeeping departments and as F&B Stewards. The program also meets the children’s basic needs and provides additional funding for scholarships and stationery.


Jim Boyles, General Manager assists Daniel Lozano to present daily needs items to the school

On July 1, 2009 the Meliá Bali team visited the school together with Meliá Senior Vice President Daniel Lozano. It was an unforgettable day for everyone at the school, as the resort supplied a TV set, scholarships and daily needs items. The resort team also signed a project agreement for a ‘Meliá Bali Housekeeping Lab’. This work shop, which prepares the students for a job in the hospitality industry, will be managed by the resort’s housekeeping team. We hope the work shop will give the children a better understanding of daily housekeeping tasks and the enjoyable working environment at the resort.

Signing the Housekeeping Project Agreement

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
As of 2009 more than 190 students have become part of the Melia Bali family. Six SLBB graduates are performing great work and setting an excellent example for other staff members as contractual workers in the resort.


SLB members, who are now the Melia Bali big family

GUEST PARTICIPATION:
The resort’s tradition in caring for the community not only involves its management and employees, but also invites guest participation. Today we invite you to make a difference to these underprivileged young people by making a donation or taking part in a visit to the school. On September 9th, 2009 the resort’s team created an outside lunch event for its guests at SLBB Jimbaran.


The students prepared and served a special lunch for the guests, who also enjoyed a welcome dance and art pantomime to live music performed by the students. They were delighted to see that the hearing- impaired students performed as gracefully as hearing dancers. The unique venue and inspiring students generated an emotional atmosphere of excitement and sympathy. A tour around the school workshops allowed the guests to experience the spirit of cooperation between the school and the resort, which enables the students to be part of the community and to make a difference to it.


This event helped resort guests understand that Meliá Bali has developed a tradition of caring for the community and working together as a family. We hope that our guests will be moved to return to Bali and the Meliá Bali Resort.

The whole family during the September 9th, 2009 visit

Spa and Painting Workshops


MELIÃ BALI GENERAL MANAGERJIM BOYLES TALKS ABOUT THE COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT PROGRAM
I believe in sustainable programs. A good example of a sustainable program is a story about fish. If you give a man a fish, then he can feed him self for one meal. But if you teach him how to fish, then he can feed himself for a lifetime. I also believe that all the stakeholders must be fully committed to the program in order for it to be successful.

I’ve been asked how the program would impact the community. The hospitality industry is very dependent upon the culture of Bali. Visitors come because the Balinese culture is so special, so we must ensure that our industry provides a better living standard for the Balinese people. It is our responsibility to preserve and protect the traditional Balinese culture. We can do this by providing a better quality of life, education and at the same time to help and preserve the environment.

We invite you to join Meliá Bali’s Community Involvement Program. If we each do a little to help, together we can help a lot!

In-house guests of the Meliá can participate in the Program. One dollar from each booking will go to the benefit of the Community Involvement Program of Meliá Bali Villas & Spa Resort.

For more information or to make a donation, please call us at 62 361 771 510 extension 8840
Email: hrd@meliabali.com
Website www.meliabali.com or www.solmelia.com

ABOUT MELIÃ BALI COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Community Involvement Sol Meliá is a Community Social Responsibility Program carried out by more than 400 hotels in 35 countries on 4 continents. These assistance programs for disadvantaged people and communities form part of Sol Melia’s Global Community Involvement Program, which aims to better focus our efforts and better plan and coordinate our activities.

Meliá Bali has a great tradition of caring for its friends, community & environment as family. As a leading resort committed to support community involvement programs, Meliá Bali sets an example of corporate social responsibility at all levels. Improving the quality of life of this unfortunate family is just one example.

B I C A R A I T U I N D A H

Bicara merupakan sebuah anugerah yang patut disyukuri sepanjang hidup. Dalam kehidupan ada sejumlah sahabat kita yang tidak bisa bicara dan mendengar secara baik. Sahabat kita penyandang tunarungu/wicara.

Bagi mereka hidup tetap indah dan patut disyukuri dengan penuh sukacita, sekalipun bisu dan tuli. Sahabat kita yang bisu dan tuli tidak berarti mereka tidak bisa berkomunikasi. Mereka berkomunikasi dengan bahasa isyarat dan bahasa bibir. Ini adalah sarana komunikasi bagi penyandang tunarungu/wicara.

Bicara membutuhkan dukungan besar dari orangtua. Sejak kecil setelah orang yang menerima dan menyadari putra putrinya adalah penyandang tunarungu/wicara, maka sejak itu pula mereka mengharuskan bicara. Orangtua serta adik-kakaknya berkomunikasi menggunakan gerak bibir. Dukungan yang besar dari keluarga membuat tumbuh rasa percaya dirinya untuk tidak pernah malu berbicara dengan orang di lingkungan sekitarnya.

Helping Hearing Impaired Children in Bali

Worldwide an average of three percent of all children are born with some type of hearing disorder. In Bali the figures are from 1 – 3%. The reason we don’t know the exact figures is that there is not universal screening at birth. There are many hearing impaired children in Bali who could benefit from hearing aids. Children who do not hear well enough to develop language before the age of 6 or 7, will probably never be able to do so. The area of the brain responsible for language development will not respond after that. Even if diagnosed and fitted at age 4 or 5, a child will probably never catch up. We are looking for donors to either fund the purchase of new hearing aids or pay for the maintenance costs for used ones; for needed testing equipment and for furniture and supplies for the Schools for the Hearing Impaired.

Thanks to generous donations from the Annika Linden Foundation, we are able to continue to expand our services to the hearing impaired community.

The CV Lumina Hearing Center received a very generous donation of a critical piece of hearing testing equipment that will enable the accurate diagnosis of hearing disability in infants and young children. This unit – a GSI Audera ABR/OAE (BERA) System was donated by VIASYS Heathcare of the United States. CV Lumina is very excited to have this very advanced piece of equipment – the first of its kind in the island of Bali (and one of two in all of Indonesia) – because it means that we can now identify and provide hearing aids for hearing loss in babies and toddlers. This will greatly increase their speech and language development potential.

Background to Hearing Loss in Bali

Hearing loss for children presents a physical, emotional and social challenge that is difficult to describe. For the children affected in Bali, this challenge is compounded by a lack of resources and an inability to access hearing aids, receive corrective medical treatment, or even achieve an education. Assessing children for hearing loss in Bali has up until very recently been almost impossible due to a lack of facilities and trained personnel. read more...