As you know, I am involved with the Kupu-Kupu Foundation in Ubud whose founder, Beonia Lopez, looks after disabled children. I have helped Begonia with her webpages and also want to assist in other ways when I go to Bali this coming Tuesday.
I had already planned to visit the Melka Excelsior Hotel in Lovina to swim with their dolphins. Then I thought what a thrill it would be for a disabled child to spend some time in a pool with a dolphin and on the spur of the moment emailed the hotel:
I am coming to Bali next week. I'll be volunteering some of my time at the Kupu-Kupu Foundation for Disabled Children and it occurred to me that some of those disabled children would be absolutely thrilled to be given an outing from Ubud to Lovina and to swim with your dolphins. Could this be arranged? What would the charges be?
To my complete delight, I received a reply within hours:
Dear Mr Goerman, "Warm Greeting from Melka Excelsior Hotel." Thank you very much for your kind email. Pleased to inform you that Mr Karl Günther Meyer as owner will be pleased to offer 10 children free swimming with dolphin. So, it will be high appreciate if you can send the exact date of your arrival. Looking forward to hearing from you! Sincerely yours, Nadi
I promptly dashed off my reply:
Dear Nadi, dear Mr Meyer, thank you for your email and the wonderful news. You are indeed very, very generous and we will certainly spread the good word about your hotel. I have set up the Foundation's website and with your permission, I would like to add your hotel to the Foundation's sponsors. I have just now emailed Begonia Lopez of the Kupukupu Foundation in Ubud to ask when it would be a good time to come to your hotel. Mr Meyer, I have already made some arrangements about my accommodation while in Bali but I try and see if I can also spend a few days at your hotel as a paying guest. In any event, I shall do a write-up about your hotel and include it on my many websites. Whereabouts do you hail from in Germany? I am from Braunschweig but I have been away from there since I was 19 years old and I now call Australia my home. Anyway, I'm sure there's lots to talk about when I get there. In the meantime, I shall try and get some date(s) from Kupukupu Foundation for our visit to your hotel.
Come on, Begonia, what's a good day for you to arrange such a trip? I'll be happy to pay for the children's transport to Lovina and back and also pay for lunch, refreshments, etc. Just get back to me quickly so we can tell Mr Meyer!
