Cremation Ceremony in Bali

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The grandmother of one of our team members died. The whole village takes part in the process of sending her body and ashes off. The whole process takes about ten days with members from each household in the village participating and preparing many offerings.

Dr. Margret from Jiwa Damai visited the compound and like other village members brought rice, coffee and sugar and an envelope with a donation. The people participating preparing, washing the body are all fed with the support of the villagers food donations.

On the first day, after many rituals, the actual cremation takes place. The Gamelan group playing their instruments and beginning the walk through the village to the cremation grounds. Man follow and carry the body in a special container, built according to the caste the grandmother belonged to. The women walk separately at the end.

In the cremation grounds, the priest again performs blessings and ceremonies before the corpse is set on fire. There are actually two fires, one for the body and the other one for the coffin looking like box in which she was carried on.

Most villagers will stay, talk and smile a lot while this takes place. After which the ashes will be brought by the closest family to the see, to be set free in the water.

Visitors at Jiwa Damai

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Some of Margret’s old students she taught in Java, Indonesia, now practicing  psychotherapists and lecturers at various universities, came for a refreshment seminar in HeartSelf-intelligence to Jiwa Damai in August. We are happy to share some photos with you.

Incredibly inventive local Balinese team

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Here you see how incredibly inventive our local Balinese team  is. The tires for the Earthship inspired building have to be unloaded by the large trucks on top of the hill and then loaded on motorbikes to be ferried down via a small path to the building site. Placing a stick across the back of the seat of the bike, tying them with string, he actually manages to take 8 huge tires with him on one bike and take them downhill .

What an art it is! The tires for the Earthship inspired building have to be unloaded by the large trucks on top of the hill and then loaded on motorbikes to be ferried down via a small path to the building site. Placing a stick across the back of the seat of the bike, tying them with string, he actually manages to take 8 huge tires with him on one bike and take them downhill . What an art!

Volunteers at Jiwa Damai

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A wonderful volunteer group with incredible supportive skills. Evan from Australia, giving much love and knowledge to our garden, Iseult from France, supporting with her graphic skills improvement on the website, Lulu from Brazil, introduces many wonderful recipes how to prepare cassava from her Brazilian cooking heritage. Our Chilean fairy, filming and producing four wonderful videos, last not least Boris from Bulgaria, working though our website and company structure. A great group.

If you would like to join us as a volunteer, find out more. 

Motorcycle gang at Jiwa Damai

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What a surprise! On Indonesian National Independence Day, Margret found this motorcycle gang parked in the Jiwa Damai parking lot:  a huge number of heavy motorcycles with the accompanying drivers as well. Rasio Bali group which is connected all over the island.

Wondering why they were parked here, we tried to find out their purpose as well. After much back and forth talk, they were willing to offer support if needed for our educational and social foundation, Lagu Damai. They stressed that they support good causes and if we let them know they will support ours and we can also support theirs.

Goodbye celebration

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Lukas and Analee are leaving and they gifted us with the most wonderful divine chocolate mousse cake for their goodbye celebration. This was their last evening Jiwa Damai. We are so grateful for their presence and wish them all the best in their new life. They will get married in the USA. We wish them lots of love!

Our residential cat, Orchid

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Our resident cat, Orchid loves to be petted and lives in the garden Lumbung. She's very good friends with our guests, volunteers and interns.

Garden visit

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Another lovely visit form an International School in Bali to our permaculture gardens.

These young ones, ranging form 7-11 years were extremely interested in our gardens and especially all the animals they encountered during the garden walk. Butterflies, Tokes, all kinds of lizards and some of our beautiful birds, like the kingfisher, which resides here.

Opening a coconut, trying the meat of the coconut, cacao fruit, tasting basil and mint and then enjoying for lunch a banana pancake with cinnamon and honey. This was topped with a dip in our pool. Everyone left joyful and very happy. We really enjoy having young people discovering our garden.

International school visiting Jiwa Damai

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We received students form the International School of Canggu. 12 youths from 12-14 and 2 teachers wanted to learn more about  where their food is coming for. They were very interested in our gardens. From trying cacao beans fresh from the tree to each planting a set of pepper seedlings after mixing the soil with sand and sawdust and compost, to trying to open a coconut, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. So did we. A powerpoint presentation about healthy and unhealthy foods, a healthy lunch and an after lunch swim complimented the visit. It is so wonderful to see our young people interested and quite knowledgable about heir food and health.