Our Story

My name is Natalie Davenport, and I am the founder of Bamboo Creative Bali. I started a social-inclusion project in 2017 to establish a space for my now 24-year-old daughter, Freyr, who has special needs, to provide natural community inclusion, opportunities for social interaction, quality-of-life, and care assistance from staff and volunteers. After experiencing Carer Burnout in Australia in 2015, I moved to the Philippines and lived with local families, which helped me restore my nervous system and introduced me to a different way of living, and is where I first met bamboo. This opened my eyes to the reality of life in “developing” countries, which then led me to Bali, where I endeavored to learn about affordable non-toxic treatment methods for treating bamboo to make it last longer. Along this journey, I was inspired by local culture and was enabled to develop my expertise in natural building with bamboo and renewable/ up-cycled materials.

My goal is to be part of the development of creative and human-friendly systems and spaces/environments for Regeneration through offering workshops centered around bamboo design and building, woven within a village fabric inclusive of persons with a disability and naturally supportive for families. It’s a work in progress that is going to take a tribe…

Experiencing life in the Philippines is where I really learned about “family”, and to “slow down” and see life from a more wholistic perspective. Additionally, I was more able to “function” outside my caring role for my daughter and to have some time to develop my own interests in building design with natural/up-cycled materials and bamboo… It didn’t seem so hard to take care of Freyr and she really seemed to enjoy the sense of “belonging” in a family environment. I stayed for nearly a year in the Philippines in 2016 where local families helped me to care for my daughter Freyr (who is intellectually disabled and has high care needs).

During our time there, I helped to make some small building projects with the families we stayed with – hoping it would help them to create some income to support their livelihoods (local salaries are remarkably low). While staying with one family and helping to build a small homestay room in Palawan (Salacot area), termites were a huge issue and wreakers of mass destruction, and without heavy chemical treatment, turned bamboo to dust pretty darn quick. Also bringing water to homes from nearby water sources was time-consuming and manually challenging (no electricity in this area). I saw why people generally have a negative perception of bamboo as a building material – which is what brought me to Bali, where I met Djuka (Farmers Yard Hostel founder) through HelpX and became fascinated with Indoneisan bamboo building techniques. I realised that Bali was the place to learn about bamboo and helped Djuka build a Lumbung (traditional rice barn) from bamboo which became the basis for our sky-kubu design. I started this bamboo project with local craftsmen and volunteers and have learned everything hands-on… through local knowledge…, and am still trying to figure out how that could be made accessible/affordable for, not only my friends in the Philippines, but other local people in Bali and other countries. 

I hope to return to Palawan again and stay with the families in the beautiful and relatively unspoilt area of the hillsides behind Napsan (like Bali was 30 years or so ago) and bring what I have learned and support their ability to access sustainable renewable technologies which can help improve living standards/ ease/access to things we take for granted in the western world – like running water and light at night and also help them to utilise bamboo as a building material that lasts and is attractive and affordable.

I believe that maintaining skills and traditions at the local level and promoting the value of bamboo as a sustainable building material/resource will enable its revival and help enhance the lives of people in ‘developing’ countries. My aim is to facilitate cooperative relationships between ‘westerners’ and local families which are mutually beneficial to help share skills and knowledge of how we can live more sustainably, alongside the practical experience of learning bamboo carpentry and construction, and so people with special needs and their families can visit/spend time – and be part of a supported living environment and activities.

It’s not the skills themselves… it’s the Environment we create practicing them… maybe not quite like a knitting circle (I don’t know I’ve never been to one… but those crocheting circles in Australia seem quite dangerous and all with those CoalSeamGas nannas and girls going around the city crocheting trees and pushbikes). Its’ this “Being” state, and togetherness (drug-addicted rats prefer to be with other rats than take heroin) which nourishes me… It takes more than a village to raise a special needs child… maybe a multi-layered international village will do the job… It’s this state of Connectedness … just sitting and working with other families and kids running around – familyful – my new word for the day… that creates the nourishment my soul needs!

While living here in Bali, I have expanded my own skills and knowledge and I look forward to developing my Vision further – in my own “work” role/s in facilitating workshops in bamboo and natural /upcycled building techniques, and in having effective contribution towards enabling people (in general) to lead more sustainable lives and to enable the development of what I believe will enable humanity to genuinely and heartully reconnect across cultures and continents – creating the transition stage of Regeneration towards a culture of equality and inclusivity, and preserving, maintaining and empowering social enterprise tied to tradtional skills and knowledge – and building thriving earth-friendly interconnected empowered village networks collaboratively.

Since my daughter’s local schooling and child support payments have stopped, balancing her needs here in Bali while working full-time became increasingly challenging. In 2023 I made the difficult decision to send her to Australia to get support through the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I really wish that my needs as a person with a disability’s parent were acknowledged and that i could have the support to be able to live close to Freyr and still receive the support I need to be able to maintain my life and career alongside my lifelong role as her mother and caregiver. I think I have demonstrated how it may be possible for parents of people with disabilities to be supported as part of an inclusive environment with community volunteers and staff – and how enriching this can be.

The Vision I have for Bamboo Creative Bali is to create a model for living in supportive community which includes people with disabilities in daily life and enables us to share our gifts as people/humans and contribute to a collective aims / The Common Good. And to see/develop a social-housing model that will give my daughter a better quality of life experience, social connection and care than what is presently available in Australia; and for myself, to evolve a way to work alongside my role as my daughter’s Carer and to contribute and feel connected with others. Through this model I have expanded my own skills and knowledge and am now able to create a livelihood for myself from the learning I’ve had living here in Indonesia I and look forward to now having time to develop my vision further in my own “work” in facilitating workshops in bamboo and natural /upcycled building techniques and having effective contribution towards enabling people (in general) to lead more sustainable lives.