FATHER OF HAITI QUAKE SURVIVOR FROM BALI GRATEFUL

Denpasar, Bali, Jan 17 (ANTARA) I Wayan Maliana, the father of a Balinese woman who survived the devastating earthquake in Haiti last Tuesday expressed his gratitude to God Almighty for saving his daughter, Ni Luh Made Juini (35).

"I thank Ida Sang Hyang Widhi, God Almighty, for saving my daughter during the disaster," Maliana said when contacted in
Dusun Kembang Merta, Bedugul, Tabanan district, on Saturday.

He asked the government to facilitate his daughter's return, along with two of Juini's colleagues who were also working in Haiti, namely Ni Ketut Yasri Astiti and I Gusti Putu Ayu Sukerti.

Maliana said he would offer prayers in a shrine as a token of gratitude to God for his daughter's survival from the devastating earthquake which caused some 200,000 casualties in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

He said he and his family were very worried about Juni's condition when they heard about the quake in Tahiti, the more so because they were unable to call Juini by telephone.

"Maybe because the communication network in Haiti was destroyed, but my family always watched television coverage of the earthquake in the hope there was something about my daughter," Maliana said.

On Thursday (Jan 14) Juini sent an email to her family about her condition and said she was safe.
"She said that she was evacuated by a United Nations rescue team that had come to her hotel," Maliana said.

The worries of Maliana and his family were over after they were able to communicate directly with Juini by phone on Friday (Jan 15) and Saturday morning (Jan 16).

"My daughter said she would return to Bali after her travel documents were completed," said Maliana.

Juini is the second child of I Wayan Maliana and Ni Ketut Rumini who had been working in Haiti since February 6, 2009.

The head of Bali's Manpower and Transmigration office, Made Artadana, said of the three Balinese women who had gone to Haiti, Juini was the only one officially listed by the office as a migrant worker.

Juini was sent to Haiti by a company named Botanical Spa on February 6, 2009. "Of the three, only Juini went to work abroad legally," Artadana said.