By REBECCA BILLS
Mary Farrow travels to Bali more than most people would dream of, but it is not for the beaches or the shopping. Mary is on a mission to save our own.
“If they were my sons I would be the proudest parent around for how they have dealt with their own disaster.”
EMERALD Community House chairman Mary Farrow has dedicated her life to helping the Bali Nine death row inmates at the Kerobokan Prison in Bali.
While Myuran (Myu) Sukumaran and Andrew Chan continue their plea for clemency, the two have been involved in designing and running a cultural arts program for the inmates, alongside the help and assistance of Mary.
Drafted from an idea of Myu’s to provide Balinese dance classes for the women inmates to lift their mood and give them something to do, the idea grew and expanded with Andrew hosting a series of activities in kitchen operational skills and counselling.
“I really just follow their thinking and make the odd suggestion here and there,” she said.
“They are community engagement specialists in the prison environment hands down and I am pleased to support and foster their ideas and activities,” she said.
As part of the cultural arts component of the program, gamelan workshops were added for the men, based on extensive academic research, that playing instruments together was effective at engaging inmates.
“We sought Professor Nyoman Sedana, Ph.D from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Denpasar, to assist with the development of the cultural arts program for the prison,” she said.
“This is truly an amazing example of diverse communities and resources coming together at the grass roots level to deliver benefits and well-being at no cost to the prison.”
Mary said arts was the foundation of human expression since the dawn of time and using arts as an engagement tool in diverse communities at risk was not a new idea.
She said the inmates of the prison had responded especially well to the program but she was so proud of Myu and Andrew and their outlook on life despite being on death row.
“I feel more strength every time I visit them, not less,” she said.
“Their real story sits behind those walls – if you knew them, no-one would shoot them.
“I will say I have never met more courageous and genuine young men grappling with something that many of us would just collapse under the burden.“
Mary said she was inspired by the two men who against all odds have come out better men than when they went into prison.
“If they were my sons I would be the proudest parent around for how they have dealt with their own disaster,” she said.
“Andrew, Myu, SiYi and Matt are always with me, wherever world I am in.
“I carry a lanyard around my neck with their pictures and their families to always remind me of their anguish.”
Over the last nine months Mary has travelled to Bali six times and will be going again in October for the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival (URWF) to present as a speaker.
Mary says she is dedicated to staying focused on educating the public about Myu and Andrew’s reform and rehabilitation activities within the prison and presenting in this forum was a way to continue to get the message out there.
“I am grateful that they aren’t any further away because it would reduce the amount of times I could visit them and help with their educational programs,” she said.
“The travel is more routine now than anything.
“I have had a wondrous first-hand exposure to the essence of Balinese spirituality and culture through Professor Sedana, and the prison culture too which is a real eye-opener.”
Mary said her own family rallied around her and got on with the routine of living in the Hills while she was away because they knew how important this cause was to her.
“I am grateful for that and I believe it has brought them closer together.
For more information on Mary and the URWF event visit www.ubudwritersfestival.com/writers/mary-farrow/
