Saving the Souls of Balinese Children, Greg Jacobson and Turah Erawan Donate 100 Helmets at Puri Anyar Kerambitan

Tabanan | barometerbali – Helping to ease the burden and save people’s lives during the Covid-19 pandemic must not only be done by handing over groceries, but there are other ways that are no less important and valuable.

For example, this time a foreign citizen (WNA) from California, the United States of America (USA), Greg Jacobson and his wife, Rocky Jacobson, donated 100 children’s helmets at Puri Anyar Kerambitan, Tabanan Regency, on Friday, August, 27th.

This action was motivated by, during their stay in Bali, they often saw that there were still many kids in Bali who did not wear helmets when riding a ride on motorbike or driving alone on the highway. This made Greg and his best friend, a public figure from Puri Anyar Kerambitan, AA Ngurah Bagus Erawan, very worried for the safety of their souls. Moreover, the number of traffic accidents where children are victims is still high.

Asked about the idea and activity for the handing over of helmets, AA Ngurah Bagus Erawan, who is often called Turah Erawan, emphasized that he collaborated with his colleague Greg Jacobson, who is concerned about the safety of the lives of Balinese children on the roads because many do not wear helmets.

“Greg Jocobson, he’s just an ordinary businessman from USA but we appreciate his efforts who really care about motorcycle riders who carry their children, who we often see don’t wear helmets. Instead, it’s their children who don’t wear helmets. So here we prepare them for free. Only to give helmets to small children, hopefully it will be useful and reduce the number of accident victims,” ​​explained Turah Erawan.

He further mentioned the number of helmets distributed to children in Banjar Kukuh and Baturiti Village, which are located around Puri Anyar Kerambitan. Further distribution of helmets will be planned in the amount of up to tens of thousands of pieces for the whole of Bali. “Meanwhile, right now 100 pieces. We plan tens of thousands for the people in Bali,” he said.

On that occasion Greg Jacobson accompanied by his wife explained his background and emphasized that what he did in distributing helmets to children was purely a social movement to teach people to be happier because many lives could be saved.

“I come from a non-profit organization called happily achieving, I teach people to be happier. Cause so many people killed themselves. In Bali it’s not a big problem with suicide, but people have heart attacks, stress out because of Covid -19. But when I drive around Bali, I see a lot of children not wearing helmets. In the United States that would never happen, or Australia or in Europe. But here I see adults wearing helmets but children not wearing helmets. This breaks my heart, because I know, if we ride a motorcycle, we can get into an accident one day. Everybody does,” he explained.

To address this, he then carried out research in the Southeast Asia region where more than 90 million motorcycles were registered, there are more than 250,000 children every year who die from traffic accidents and permanent brain injuries.

“Eighty-seven percent could have been avoided if they had worn a helmet. This is what makes me care and really touches my heart for how I can help. It makes me very very concern about this. Finally I have the initiative to offer helmets to passengers under the age of 12, and when they grow up older it will crate life long habit,” said Greg.

Regarding where the source of the funds for this activity came from, Greg stated that it was from personal funds to buy all the children’s helmets. But he also did not close the door and hoped for donations from donors, sponsors, large companies, or other small communities so that they could donate more helmets.

“This year we have a goal of providing 20 thousand helmets. Next year (2022) there are 50 thousand helmets. And in 5 years we will deliver 1 million helmets for Bali. Then it will expand to Jakarta, Sulawesi and other regions in Indonesia to other countries in Southeast Asia. I started from Indonesia, especially Bali,” explained Greg Jacobson who is also the author of the book “Think Yourself Happy”.

Greg invited Turah Erawan together with the local government and the Kerambitan Police, Tabanan Police and all other parties to be involved in this social action. After this for the next stage Greg will again donate helmets depending on his production capacity in Bali.

“Look how happy people and kids are to receive yellow helmets with smiling emoticons for all over the world and save human lives. For today we distribute 100 helmets. And around the end of November or early December we will hand out another 500 helmets. Once a month or two times a month. Until no one in Bali is not wearing a helmet. We produce it in Bali to help the local economy and the community in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whatever we do, start from Bali, because Bali is our second home. For parties and people who want to donate can access the website www.happilyachieving.org,” he explained.

Also attending and participating in the helmet distribution activity which took place at Jaba Sisi Puri Anyar Kerambitan were the Deputy Chief of Tabanan Resort Police Kompol I Ketut Gelgel, a number of village officials and 100 village children around the castle who would be given helmet assistance while still implementing health protocols such as wearing masks and keep the distance to each others.

On the sidelines of the event, the Deputy Chief of the Tabanan Resort Police, Kompol I Ketut Gelgel, expressed his great appreciation to Greg Jocobson and Puri Anyar Kerambitan for handing over helmets to these children. “That’s why I really appreciate the distribution of this helmet. It means that the person (Greg, ed) really cares about traffic safety,” he said.

The Deputy Chief of Police also highlighted the lack of helmet use for children aged 12 years and under. He still sees many parents who do not understand the safety of their children in traffic. The number of victims of traffic accidents is estimated to be much higher than the number of victims of other disasters. In his observations, the awareness of parents in prioritizing the safety of children on the highway is also still lacking.

“Sometimes when they go to school, mothers ride their children mostly without helmets. Only a small number of children wear helmets. It’s dangerous. Only parents wear helmets, children don’t wear helmets. Parents don’t understand safety. Now with the distribution of this helmet can reduce accident victims and can make people aware of the importance of helmets as well,” concluded Kompol Gelgel. (BB/504)