Envisioning Hope in Rural Bali: Senin and Lina Become Agents of Change in Their Communities

Produced in collaboration with Project Multatuli and on-site partners Bale Bengong

Two young women from Ban Village in Bali, Indonesia, are determined to make a difference. Meet Ni Nengah Senin, 20, from Pengalusan Hamlet and Ni Luh Lina Susanti, 18, from Manikaji Hamlet.?

Through the EMpower-funded Girls Empowerment Photovoices programme, implemented by Photovoices International (PVI) and East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP) since 2015—they have actively campaigned to raise awareness of critical issues, mobilised their peers, and challenged norms—finding power by getting behind the camera and documenting daily life in their village.

Senin’s Story

With EBPP’s support, Senin completed high school and participated in the Photovoices International (PVI) programme. And now with a scholarship from the ROLE Foundation, another EMpower partner, Senin is pursuing a degree in hospitality in Nusa Dua, a tourist centre in South Bali.?

At the same time, Senin has been a strong advocate to prevent child marriage, which is highly prevalent, in her community. Through evocative photos, she and her peers held an exhibition exploring the impact of child marriage on girls and young women. As a follow-up, she was invited to speak at the village meeting as a representative for the students of EBPP School to discuss traditional laws. Various local leaders, including the Head of Ban Village, all the traditional religious leaders, several heads of other hamlets, teachers, and some of Senin’s friends took part in the meeting.?

EBPP teachers—in collaboration with PVI, the Bali Legal Aid Institute, and the local government—shared information with local leaders about child marriages in Ban Village and shared examples of customary laws that other villages in Bali have established to prevent child marriage.?

Senin talked about the urgent need to address child marriage in her village:?

“I told them about the current situation of my friends who got married before finishing school. I hope that we can immediately approve this customary law and convey it to all the people in Ban Village," Senin shares.

She dreams that with this change, students will no longer drop out of school and marry underage, and before they are ready.?

The Village

Residents ride broken motorbikes into the fields to look for animal feed. They weave bamboo in their respective homes. These are common sights in the hamlet. Teenagers help their parents after school. However, those who drop out of school and marry young will be busy juggling work and childcare.

A glimpse into the life of a couple who married young

Nengah Wasri, 32, and her husband Kadek Budi, 34, have a 17-year-old son. They married young, after dropping out of school. Her daily activities begin with looking for grass for livestock and then cooking, followed by making bamboo baskets.?Most residents of Pengalusan Hamlet earn a living primarily by raising livestock and weaving baskets. Wasri now realises that child marriage can have a detrimental impact on children, including stunting, amongst other things. She supports regulations to prevent child marriage.

The EBPP School

One can access the EBPP school in Pengalusan Hamlet through a damaged dirt road about one kilometre from the village road. Murals with gender equality messages from local campaigns line the school walls.?

Senin’s Family?

Nengah Kerti and Nyoman Ngungsi are Senin’s parents. Senin is the fifth child. Her parents haven’t recorded the children’s dates of birth because they don’t recognise its importance. Senin’s older sister got married after dropping out of school.?

Her mother looks for animal feed and weaves cooking utensils from bamboo. At most, she can make five pieces that sell for as little as IDR 4,000 per unit (0.25 USD). Senin’s father takes care of the livestock and rain-fed gardens, where they grow cassava for their consumption.?

One of the walls in the house displays a photograph clicked by Senin as part of her advocacy efforts for the PVI programme. It shows her parents working in the fields.

Inspiring Others

Ariani is Senin’s junior who attends the EBPP school in Pengalusan Hamlet. She admits that she wants to follow in Senin’s footsteps. After graduating high school, she is keen to seek vocational education outside the village.?

Lina’s Story

18-year-old?Ni Luh Lina Susanti recently graduated high school at the EBPP school in Manikaji. After completing the Girls Empowerment Photovoices programme, she is now pursuing a degree at a university in Bandung, West Java, thanks to a scholarship.?

Not only does Lina advocate for environmental conservation, but she is also actively promoting gender equality for girls and women in the village. Lina has set an example for her junior classmates by continuing her studies.?

Lina is originally from an area surrounded by hills that routinely experiences natural disasters, including earthquakes and droughts. It is prone to fires in the dry season, and a lack of forest cover increases the risks of landslides during earthquakes. When landslides occur, water channels get damaged, and people are often weary of going to water sources for fear of getting buried under the debris. All this significantly limits residents’ access to clean water.

Lina hopes to improve the conditions in her village. One of her photos from 2022 shows a cliff that collapsed near Mount Abang, Karangasem, Bali. The lack of trees caused a landslide, but the area covered with trees survived.

Family Portrait/Lina’s Home

Being away from family is not easy. Her parents, I Wayan Putu Sentana and Ni Nengah Rahayu, continue to live in their family home and are building a new shop. They are happy that Lina is pursuing her dream of studying outside Bali. They have witnessed their daughter’s determination since attending EBPP school and participating in the PVI programme.?

Village’s landscape

Pictured here are hills surrounding the hamlet on the slopes of Mount Agung, Bali’s most active volcano. During the dry season, one can see several smoke spots and trees withering from the drought

Planting Seeds of Hope

Lina has focused on reforestation activities through PVI and EBPP. Together with her peers, she has been planting at several critical spots.?

“Unfortunately, many seedlings burned when there was a fire on the hill,” she says.

Thankfully, some seedlings have survived, and she hopes the monsoons will allow plants to grow and ultimately form a cover to protect water sources.

Traditional Village Leader

The Head of the Komang Sadra Traditional Village showed Lina and her friends the location for planting tree seeds. In a critical victory, the village of Sadra approved the draft written customary regulations called?pararem?to prevent child marriages in the village. The higher traditional council and the village office are reviewing the regulation.?

Young Changemakers Carrying Efforts Foward

Lina’s friend, Kadek Peri Indrawan, is still in high school and involved in reforesting the village. Peri and other teens have led a campaign that has led to the government setting up a nursery, “Kebun Bibit Rakyat” or “The People’s Nursery.”

As Lina and Senin set out on a new journey to pursue their career and education goals, they leave behind a legacy that will inspire their peers and other community members to strive towards a more equitable future.