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Ketut Renda

"My name is Ketut Renda. I was born in a Balinese family as the fourth of 12 children. Still fresh in my mind is how my family lived in such difficult economic conditions that I had to live with my uncle from the time I was little, for there were too many people in such a small house. To be able to study in elementary school, I worked hard helping my uncle in the rice fields and herding his ducks everyday back from school. Once I graduated from elementary school, my uncle couldn't pay my school any longer. I prayed day and night to be able to continue to secondary school, until a family came. Their son had graduated, so they gave all his school shirts and shorts to me. I was very happy to receive it. To pay for my own school, I learned to make silver jewelry in Celuk, a nearby village, for almost six years.

"Unlike most children, instead of playing around, my mind was filled with thoughts of how to earn money for my studies, and to support my younger brothers and sisters. When I graduated from university, I encouraged myself to borrow some silver jewelry from someone in Celuk. I became a vendor on the street in Kuta beach, a place where I learned a foreign language and met some friends. To make this story short, by 1999 I was able to set up my own small workshop."