Emon

Our friends, Lou and Wina, recommended a driver, Emon, for us in Bali. We hired him for our first week and found him not only to be a safe driver, but a lovely, responsible person. I asked him if I could hire him to work on my mural. He replied that he had no experience and I told him, that was fine and he could just do what I instructed.

Emon often talked about the universe aligning and I believe, it certainly did with our meeting and working with him. The hotel where we stayed while working on the mural gave Emon a free room. I thanked them and told them that they were now part of the project.

Emon was a hard and conscientious worker. When we finished, I told him to take as much as the extra paint as he wanted. He took most of it and to my delight, he sent me pictures of a mural he and his family painted in his kitchen. He also had an idea about the large empty wall next to my mural. He asked me what I thought about him painting the Balinese alphabet there. I told him it was brilliant and he and his family painted it.

Emon drove us all over Bali and although I have been involved in the Indonesian community in Chicago for 30 years, there was so much I didn’t know. Emon explained so much about Bali’s culture and religion.

We found a new friend in Emon. He invited us to his house for a lovely dinner shortly before we left. Saying good-bye was hard, but I knew we will remain friends, so it wasn’t terrible.