"Kampong": a small village or community of houses in Malay-speaking land. Says dictionary.com.
At Les, you will experience kampong living by the sea. You will work, eat, play and sleep amongst the fishermen and their families. Volunteers will stay in private homestay cottages run by the villagers. But the communal area is a shared one with the villagers, who will drop by for a chat, watch the sunset, teach you Bahasa Indonesia, Balinese dancing, or just celebrate life together.
At Les, we encourage volunteers to be part of this community and make friends with the villagers. It is through this friendship that you experience grassroots community living. You may be invited to temple ceremonies, birthdays or local weddings. You get to swap English for Bahasa lessons. Freedive with the local kids as they catch their dinner. Open a coconut tossed down from the tree by a friendly fisherman, to quench your thirst after a dive or snorkel (I just love it when our guests' blogs create much better videos than we can! Watch this fun video (courtesy of Humantravelling.com) on climbing for coconuts). Have a spontaneous Balinese dancing lesson.
Apart from the marine and teaching volunteer activities, we have plenty to do.
Waterfall and jungle treks. Les has a famous waterfall which is also the wellspring of the village’s traditional subak water irrigation system. The waterfall resides in the green hills of Les which have many jungle treks. You can easily spend a day trekking the hills of Les, ending up at the waterfall with a well-deserved shower from Mother Earth!
Salt farming. If you are lucky enough to snare a seaside villa, outside your window, you will see the salt farm fields. Outside of monsoon season, you can help the salt farmers make salt. Sea Communities has helped to bridge the salt farmers with a higher-end market of spas and fine dining restaurants. You can help by teaching them English so that they can improve their marketing ability. Matt and Alana, our guests, blogged beautifully about their salt farming experience.
Balinese cooking lessons. Sea Communities is encouraging the women of Les to improve their livelihoods by teaching their skills in cooking.
Balinese weaving. While the men chat over tea, the women sit at the steps busy with their hands while minding the kids playing at the beach. On closer look, you see that they are weaving coconut fronds into intricate baskets for their ketupat rice cakes. Make friends. Have a go at it!
Community-based activities. Education and awareness is also Sea Communities’ mission. We can tailor community-based activities and for school groups and youth organisations which encourage interaction and integration with local schools and community groups, such as building village facilities and creating local art installations.