A SUNDAY AT PANTAI MAS

It's warm, because it “has to” rain. We've been very busy since Friday. Many people have come to say thanks and pray in our temple. They always bring a lot of food.
We were also in the kitchen for three days, because of Saraswati day (last Saturday). Many offerings were made and the books and Lonstairs (secret writings on bamboo) were brought into the temple to honour. The books we use to mirror ourselves.

Besides that several new faces and the daily care for the people (both in and out of balance) who are staying at Pantai Mas.

Many people are coming and going. The sun is setting and the sky is coloured in yellow, orange and bright blue. A low blanket of clouds hangs over the mountains of the bay where Pantai Mas is situated.

The fish jump over the water, the mosque further on calls for prayer, a gentle breeze makes the palm and coconut trees sway and the trees that are fully blooming with beautifully coloured flowers move to and fro in the garden.

Dimas has just, after spending the night at Pantai Mas, returned to Den Pasar, to his boarding house. He has to be at the campus early tomorrow morning.

Thus, the light of the day, Sunday, says goodbye, and the night will come and take care of us. The sea in front of Pantai Mas will be filled with fishing boats that let oil lamps shine fully over the water to attract the fish.

A deep, heavy sound of a horn will then sound regularly (made with a big, snail-like shell that is held to the mouth), the call for boats that cast the nets to catch fish, when the boats that have sailed out with the light have let the fish come up from the depth of the sea towards the light.

Preparations are being made to light the oil lamps at Pantai Mas, several of the staff return home, the night watchman will be here soon.

We send an SMS to Dimas to hear if he has arrived safely; it's quite a ride on the moped through the mountains – where it usually rains now – to Den Pasar.

Saraswati day at Pantai Mas
With warm wishes,
Evert and the Pantai Mas family.
(11-11-2007)

Dear Evert,

Even though I haven't spoken to you much any more, I have felt sooo at home here. All the people that gave such a safe and welcome feeling, WONDERFUL! Thank you very much for your hospitality; it has done me a lot of good. Good luck with this beautiful project, and see you again some time!!

Best wishes,

Laurie Mans
(August 2007)

Hello  :)
I just wanted to write to express my appreciation for all the positive work that pantai mas does.
i am very grateful for the love i received while i was staying there. i could not have asked for a better place to recover from my accident.
not only that, Evert helped my partner enourmously with her depression, and she is getting better everyday.
everyone there is so lovely and caring, and the site itself is beautiful and very conducive for healing.
while we were there we also saw all the other things that they do to help those in need. i have to say that their effort is an inspiring example of how everyone should be caring for our world.
love and peace.

 Adam Burges
 (march 2008)

Staying at Pantai- Mas has been a wonderful experience. Me and my partner stumbeled across Pantai- Mas by 'accident', and didnt look back! When my partner had a scooter accident, everyone, the whole Pantai- Mas family, was very supportive, I don't know what I would have done without them! Aside from being an enormous help for Adam, my partner, Jro (Evert Halbesma) helped me stop taking anti- depressants and I felt much better almost straight away. In fact, now six months later I am still feeling happy. Pantai- Mas is one of a kind, the energy there is beatiful and whole. The sence of balance is calming and reassuring. All in a beautiful place! I will send some pictures soon.

I would like to say a big thank you to the Pantai- Mas family, you all have been amazing!

Iva Dragostinova
(april 2008)

To me Pantai Mas means rest, together, learning, truth, learning to see the visible behind the invisible, transparency, receiving and most of all love.What I experienced there above all was love from the Pantai Mas family.For the first time in my life I experienced what it was like to receive real unconditional love. Helpfulness without the ego getting in the way to ask for something in return… from this I may certainly learn myself.

Also I was confronted with myself, that I find it difficult to receive. The tendency to do something in return, feelings of guilt and shame often came up. Luckily I was aware that the negative feelings were not relevant, but are the ‘demons', originating from my early childhood.Evert, also known as Pak Jro Mangku, is at the head of the Pantai Mas family. His charisma and strong personality often overwhelmed me. It made me feel small, afraid to say anything.

As if he sensed this… he handled me with care, at least this is how I experienced it for myself. Dayu's beautiful, gentle and yet powerful energy. What a gorgeous woman. When I think of her, I see her before my eyes. I can still feel the connection that I felt with her on Bali. I wonder if she has experienced the same…

And then the loving staff that is such an essential part of the Pantai Mas family… you can't not love these people. I cherish very warm feelings for all.

Dear Pantai Mas family, I thank you for your special contribution to my holiday at Pantai Mas. Now I will say a little with respect to content of my experiences at Pantai Mas. At Pantai Mas it is the idea that the mentally vulnerable human (isn't that really what we all are) integrates with the ‘healthy' human. I put healthy in brackets, because what is mentally healthy?

At the time we were staying at Pantai Mas there were two psychiatric patients there for treatment. A young man with paranoid schizophrenia and a lady with a personality disorder.

An amazing thing is that the young man didn't need medication any more. In the two weeks we were there, I saw him change from a quiet, almost autistic seeming person into a reasonably open and humorous human being. I work in the field of psychiatry myself and I can assure that this is unique… The lady staying there was a born resident of Amsterdam, from the Jordaan. Verbally she was continuously very present. She provoked all of us, with her often over-simplified remarks. From her I learned that I can set my limits clearly. Dear Jordan lady, thank you for this. You are a beautiful woman.

Diving… under supervision of Evert I entered the depth of the sea. I have felt panic, my fear of the unknown… Reflecting and confronting… I am glad I did it after all. For a good therapeutic closure I should really experience it one more time (under individual supervision). For me I associate the depth and beauty of the underwater world with the depth and beauty in myself. I'm afraid of both… I went in for a moment, too short to be able to keep it with me for good. Whenever I'm afraid now (and I often am) I think of the moment of silence and the beauty of the underwater world that I experienced briefly, because I had gone through the gateway of my fear… These thoughts give me courage and the knowledge that it's just as beautiful inside me, if only I allow it to be…

The last thing I want to say, maybe the most important part, is that my heart opened up completely looking at the play in the swimming pool of two severely handicapped children, playing under supervision of Evert and his son Dimas. Every week these children are allowed to spend a day at Pantai Mas. There they are wonderfully bathed in a pool of love. Through Evert their father has a job as a porter working nights at Pantai Mas, so the man can be with his children during the day. Thirty percent of the proceeds from tourism go towards the project for helping handicapped children. I am glad our family was able to contribute to this and that only by staying in this wonderful part of Bali... Pantai Mas, I don't know if I will see you again. You have a place in my heart and my heart has a place in you. I shall always cherish this connection.Thank you for letting me experience.

Sylvia de Ligny (September 2008)