The History of the Bali Hope Ultra

Bali Hope and Bali Children Foundation have quite a long and special history together. In 2017 Tom, who subsequently founded Bali Hope, famously ran from Northeastern Bali down to South Bali. Tom’s successful fundraising provided scholarships to many children from the village of Tigawasa in North Bali.

In 2018 the Bali Hope Ultra event was born - with a group of runners, including DJ and many of runners who’ve returned year on year. They ran from Lovina to Old Man’s in Canggu and in the process, raised sufficient funding to provide more scholarships for the children of Tigawasa and to support upgrades in three elementary schools.

In 2019 Bali Hope Ultra was back with another exciting adventure and extensive fundraising campaign. This campaign was for the village of Pedawa, which is next to Tigawasa. It was an incredible campaign with fantastic fundraising to upgrade three schools, provide education in 4 schools, and provide scholarships for many children. In total, 390 children benefited from scholarships and education support and three deeply disadvantaged schools were hugely upgraded.

2022 Bali Hope Ultra

As we lead into the 2022 event in September, we’re now looking to assist the community of Songan, a district in the Mt. Batur crater in northeast Bali where Bali Children Foundation has a program called the 360-Degree Solution for Songan.

Since 2017 Bali Children Foundation has supported Songan District’s education for 716 children in three schools: SDN 2, SDN 5 and SDN 6.. We work in the government schools and have considerably upgraded the school buildings, teaching English as a Foreign Language and S.T.E.M classes.

As a result of Covid, we’ve had to go back and work with  grades 1 – 3 who missed out on so much face-to-face schooling - with no internet and devices to follow any online schooling. To rebuild the foundational skills of the children, we’re doing Remedial Writing, Reading and Numeracy with fun audio-visual materials in exciting libraries and facilities we have built over the last year.

Infant Malnutrition

While working in Songan, we discovered that the children who came into the school at six years old for Grade 1 had very poor concentration capacity. We’ve been aware of this for quite some time, and we expected that over a couple of years it would slowly improve, the children would build their ability to concentrate, and we’ll be able to teach them effectively. 

But it wasn’t until Marg Barry met with Ibu Kartika Soekarno that we understood that these learning and behavioural issues went back to a problem of infant malnutrition. We’ve realised it’s all very well trying to teach a child at Grade 1, but when the child has been impacted by malnutrition and has an underdeveloped brain, it would be much better if we went back to birth or pregnancy and helped the mother develop a child that is well-nourished and able to learn properly. 

In collaboration with Kartika Soekarno Foundation, we revitalised the work of Posyandu (Mother and Infant Baby Healthcare) in Songan. Investing in the first thousand days of a child’s life is crucial - it directly impacts their growth and development. At the Posyandu, the infant gets weighed and their height is checked. They receive vitamins, deworming medicine and relevant vaccinations. We also provide cooking classes to teach the mothers about nutrition, cooking, and the correct timing of solids etc. Throughout 2022 the twenty most vulnerable families received monthly nutritious food packs for their younger children.

Identifying families with the most vulnerable infants and toddlers is vital. Bali Children Foundation, through its existing scholarship survey program, is well placed to do this and then act on this information respectfully and effectively.

In Memoriam Coach Jase Cronshaw

The return of Bali Hope Ultra 2022 is particularly poignant because of the recent passing of Jase Cronshaw, the Coach. Jase has been connected to and coaching Bali Hope Runners over the period of the Bali Hope Ultras. He was here in Bali in 2019 running himself, and since then, during the pandemic, he continued to work with many BHU runners, particularly with Sean Bell, who won BHU 2019. 

Jase has positively impacted our fundraising and virtually every runner who he’s worked with. This year’s event is super poignant as we remember what Jase has contributed to the Bali Hope events, and how he and the Bali Hope athletes have contributed to the children of Bali. 

A 360° solution for Songan with Bali Hope

If we take a 360-degree approach to the problem in Songan, starting from infancy, through twelve years of schooling, and assisting children in finding their way to employment, then together we can solve the poverty crisis in the Songan District.