Widowers struggle to finance their children. Six years ago on October 12th 2002, Bali was destroyed by massive bomb blast killing hundreds of foreign tourists and local residents. On the other hand, execution of the spectators has been kept on delayed. When Amrozy and his two fellows will be shot to death as sentenced does not really matter to widower of the victims, the only important thing to their life is work hard to finance their children after passing away of their husband as the victims to the attack which took place in Bali’s famous tourist district of Legian.

“Since my husband’s killed in the attack on October 12thn 2002, I have to work very hard. I have to be both father and mother of our two children which now are in the 3rd and 4th grade of elementary school”, said Eka D Laksmi.

Looking for her residence in Dalung housing estate was quite easy. Nearly every residents in the area knew Ibu Eka, the way her neighbors call Eka D Laksmi. The house in which she also manages a little shop is frequently visited by its customers. “My small shop sells simple daily needs to those living in the neighborhood”, said Eka D Laksmi.

Whist she is still shocked when remembering the incident which killed her husband, she is very thankful for her life. In addition the the small shop she runs, she also works as a spare teacher at SMP Muhamadiyah I, a private junior highschool in Denpasar. “I was told that my employment status to be changed into official employee of the government, however so far the approval has not been issued”, she complains. She considered her income from both her shop and her salary as a spare teacher sufficient for modest life.

The shop was started on hard work and spirit. “We have never received any financial aids either from the government or any other parties to start our new life. However the community of widowers and childrens of Bali bomb victims (ISANA Dewata) has given a lot of support”, she explained.

Solidarity among widowers of bomb victims both in Bali and Jakarta (victims of attack at The Mariott Hotel) is very high. The solidarity was shown on the commemoration of the first Bali bomb on October 12th when victims of Mariott bomb attended. Similar opinion was expressed by Leniasih, whose husband was also killed in the first Bali bomb. Since her husband Kadek Sukarna has left her for good - killed in the incident when he was work at Sari Club - she was forced to play both father and mother roles to Rica Noviani (1st grade of elemtary school) and Made Wiratmaja (kindergarten).

“I have no comment about execution of the spectators of the first Bali bomb. Too much delays and uncertainty”, Leniasih prefered not to express her opinion when asked about the plan on execution of Amrozy and his fellows. The most important thing she has in her mind is to ensure sustainable education of her children. As of most other victims, the main problem faced by the widowers of the first Bali bomb is financial constrain.

To finance herself and her two children Leniasih works as a teacher at a kindergarten in Kuta. She has to struggle to make her salary - which only as low as one million Rupiah - to be sufficient. She is quite thankful that so far she does not have to spend for housing as her house rent is paid by a social foundation. “I only have to pay for electricity and water supply”, she said.

To cover her needs Lemiasih intends to work after hours to get extra income. However as her young children needs her attention, she decided not to do it and strugge to make her only income sufficient. “If I have to leave my children thoe whole day, they will not get sufficient attention from their only parent, so I decided to sustain with what I get from my only job as a teacher”.