Ketut met me at the hotel at 9am and we went next door to the BAWA office and spent an hour looking at the photos I had taken trying to work out where we had found these particular dogs. As a photographer I pay attention to backgrounds and I move around my subject as I photograph it so I was able to say “there was a temple to the left”, “that was a three way intersection”, etc which helped jog Ketut’s memory. Janice has lived in Bali for over 20 years and knows the names of many of the streets around where the “big tree” is and which direction Denpasar and Ubud lay which gave us the “big picture” directions. I was very pleased to find that between the three of us we were able to remember where each dog was found. That being said, now BAWA have to find the dogs. They certainly won’t be sitting in exactly the same place waiting for them to come pick them up! It may take a day to a couple of weeks to find them and even then, maybe not.
Ketut then drove me to his family’s two businesses, wood carving and silver jewellery. Today is my last day and I was sitting quietly in the van revisiting my experiences (as you tend to do on last days) and Ketut thought I looked too serious and even sad – and he wanted to do his best to make me happy again! He made his brother drive so that he could talk with me without having to watch the traffic and cheer me up! Ketut is a devout Hindu, he believes his good actions will repay him with good karma and he needs good karma to help him up out of his poverty stricken life. “Ketut” means fourth son, so his family is large, more mouths to feed, more jobs to find. His family is generations of carvers and he showed me his slightly deformed and calloused hands. Ketut has decided he no longer wants to be a carver, his work takes many weeks and the monetary return is very small. He wants to be a driver for tourists and also do airport transfers – the pay is much better. He believes that as I have a good heart for wanting to help the dogs, I will have very good karma. And he will get good karma because he is helping me! To give karma a fighting chance he has asked me to pass on his name and number for any of my friends needing a driver in Bali. So if you are reading this:
If you are travelling to Bali
And need a driver
I highly recommend
Ketut Godoh
Phone: 081 999 898 251
Please tell him Gabby sent you!
We arrived at his family’s wood carving shop and I received some quite royal treatment in being shown around by a relative, describing the wood types and the length of time it takes to make each piece and how the skills are handed down many generations from father to son. The nice man thought I was much younger than I am and didn’t believe I was “very young” when I had my children! I had plans to buy myself my feng shui animal (a monkey) and one for my girlfriend as well (a horse which ended up being fumigated for borer beetle by customs when I got home) so I picked out two pieces and received a very good price because I was a special friend of Ketut. While I was waiting for them to be wrapped Ketut pointed out his specialty carving – traditional masks. He is very, very good! More impressive is that each piece is carved from imagination and not from a picture.
Our next stop was to be his family’s other business but as we went through his village he asked if I would like to see his home. Partly out of curiosity and partly out of respect I said that I would like it very much. His very traditional Balinese home had a very western toddler gate blocking the entry that we stepped over. As his family is large they all live in the same compound but one two roomed building belongs to Ketut and his wife Ketut Julie, a very slim and tired looking young woman and their two small children. I was “introduced” to his mother in law and sister first. Both were on the little tiled verandah of Ketut’s home. Mother in law only had a strip of material around her bosom which covered little but was cool. Sister was born deaf and mute and perhaps retarded as well as she lay on the cool tiles of the verandah drooling slightly, arms and legs slightly pulled in towards her body as palsy kids do, with mother in law keeping her company.
I sat in Ketut’s “lounge room” with their battered lounge and small tv and accepted the traditional custom of the offer of a drink. I was introduced to his two small children and took their photos which really made them laugh when they saw their images on the back of the camera! I promised to email him a copy of them when I got home. We only stayed for a few minutes before we headed off to the jewellery shop as I only had limited time before I needed to pack for my trip home.
A sense of déjà vu hit me as we entered the front yard of the building. I had been to this shop once before, over 16 years ago on my very first visit to Bali with my best friend and her cousin (who I later married)! Such a small world! Even Ketut was surprised! After spending some time seeing the process of melting and shaping and watching a woman glue some incredibly small beads to an earring, I looked at the many items available for sale and chose some pretty earrings as a present for my daughter. We headed back to my hotel so I could pack and do some last minute present shopping for my husband and son. Ketut’s last job of my visit was to take me to the airport where I nearly missed the plane for not “seeing” the check in desk!
And now back to reality, family, new business venture and some more animal charity work back home.
