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Lotus Restaurant, Dynasty Hotel, Kuta
10.00 am – 15.00 pm
Organized by BIWA & the Bali Mandarin Center
Marijke and Lu Ye made it happen!
This year BIWA held a special event to celebrate Chinese New Year. How did this come about? At the BIWA bazaar last year, Marijke Broerse, BIWA’s luncheon coordinator, approached BIWA member Lu Ye, who happens to be Chinese, to assist her organizing the event. Lu Ye responded enthusiastically. Marijke contacted the Dynasty Hotel: she knew from previous luncheons there that the Chinese food at the Lotus Restaurant is excellent. She did not go for an ordinary luncheon but developed the idea of a market of Chinese products with Chinese delicacies offered by the Lotus Restaurant at stalls for sale. Lu Ye designed the invitation, arranged the entertainment program, and asked the Chinese Consulate for its cooperation. Well done, ladies!
LU YE and MARIJKE
A colorful market
On the day itself, the venue looked very attractive. The Lotus Restaurant was decorated fitting for Imlek and bathed in soft red lighting. In front of the entrance and inside the restaurant, vendors and BIWA ladies offered wares for sale at 18 tables, ranging from Chinese tea, lovely Chinese dresses and Chinese medicines. We like to thank all the vendors for their participation (link to website sponsors). A fortuneteller had a table in a hidden corner, but nevertheless many visitors wanting to know what the future has in store for them, sought him out. (Picture market)
Endearing and impressive entertainment
Between 11.00 pm to 2.30 pm the visitors of the event, mostly from the Chinese community in Bali, enjoyed performances by the children of the Regents School, Pelita Bangsa School and Garuda Dewasa School in Denpasar. The kids looked lovely in their Chinese outfits and stole our hearts by singing Chinese songs and performing Chinese dances. Lu Ye had been active instructing some groups for several weeks! At noon two Barong Sai made their flashing entrance accompanied by the reverberating sound of a huge Chinese drum and other instruments. Before they left a group of very well trained children dazzled the audience by showing their competence in Wushu, one of the Chinese martial art forms. Thanks to Lu again for arranging this lovely program. And thanks to Jikke Lambeek, Marijke Broerse and Vanessa Pujana for their donation of goody bags for the sweet little performers.
A million thanks to the Chinese consulate!
The event certainly owes its success to a significant extent to the Chinese consulate in Bali. The Chinese consul, the honorable Mr. Hu Yinquan, gave a touching speech at the opening ceremony in Chinese, fortunately translated into Indonesian by an expert interpreter for those who do not understand Chinese. The consulate also had a stall, ‘manned’ by his lovely wife and her crew of 6 ladies. A huge surprise came at the end of the event: the consulate gave a donation of more than 16,5 million rupiah for the Amelia fund! As a token of BIWA’s appreciation BIWA’s president Sita van Bemmelen gave the consul a framed artistically cut photograph of a Balinese Barong, donated by BIWA member Agustina Djojo.
Thanks to BIWA volunteers and the staff of Hotel Dynasty
The Love for China event could not have been successful without the loyal assistance of BIWA volunteers. Our new members Ursula Grosman and Agustina Djojo sold BIWA merchandise, the revenue was more than 1,7 million rupiah. Well done, ladies! Thanks as well to all the BIWA members who donated items for the BIWA table (link to sponsors & members donating items on website). Rikie de Ouden and Dewi Harwood sold raffle tickets to visitors of the event, which made a nice 3 million rupiah. BIWA’s vice President Sari Richardson and treasurer Ratna Evans Tanubrata served the visitors for hours at the entrance, selling Chinese-like coins (pis bolong) which they could use to buy food at the stalls run by the Lotus Restaurant. Gill Salter, Judy Ham and our secretary Ayu Winastri were at the BIWA information table and helped eight women (re)joining as members.
Special thanks goes to Chef Teng Seng Lee and his staff. The tasty dim sum and many other Chinese delicacies were in great demand.
Fundraising for baby Amelia
BIWA selected as the beneficiary of the proceeds of this event Amelia, the deformed baby in the care of the Foundation Sayangi Bali who needs multiple operations. (link to article about Amelia?). Besides the substantial donation by the Chinese consulate, several members and visitors gave a cash donation.
Together we can do … better!
The Love for China event shows that BIWA can do very well if members volunteer to help Marijke organizing an event or luncheon. We hope that many will follow Lu Ye’s excellent example!
Sita van Bemmelen