Over the last few days there has been a lot of heated discussion on who and what constitutes an expat and the Bali Expats page and who should be allowed to belong on here. I was involved in this discussion, mainly defending FI/FO workers and their role in Bali .Perhaps an insight into their lives here will clear up a few misconseptions on how they go about their daily lives here. Not all FI/FO workers are working in Australia. Many fly to China, Mongolia,and many outlying parts of Indonesia. The Flying is long and tedious, leaving their wives, girlfriends and quite often young children behind while going to work long swings (4-6 weeks) and long hours (12-14 hours a day) under great pressure to perform. That leads me to the families left behind in Bali to fend for them selves. Most have young kids, schools,housing,visas to worry about. And they do a wonderful job. Most band together, help each other through hard times. Often they meet for a quick lunch or support each other with phone calls etc. Recently, some of the women decided to help some poor, less fortunate locals in Lombok. Great work was done, however, one particular case ended sadly when things didnt quite go to plan medically. It left these wonderful women shattered and exhausted, but now have recovered and are looking for new challenges. Personaly, I am involved in an orphanage here for muslim kids and support it as much as I can. FI/FO work has many advantages, but also is very hard on the families. We choose to live in Bali for one reason or another, and are a tight group who support each other and always defend each other.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 01:19:50 +0000