n i 9 n e L i v e s

about this site

This site is meant to give you information about the how, what, who and why of ni9neLives.
Each letter of our name, n-i-9-n-e-L-i-v-e-s, carries a brief explanation of where clicking on it will get you- if the letter has an underscore.
Those letters that have unclickable texts refer to areas we are noi yet ready for.
The first i and the second n point to activities.
The other letters were meant for parts of the world we would like to import and sell goods from. An overambitious plan perhaps.
The only number in our name, the 9, says it all adds up. It is meant for adding up what you have ordered- if we ever do go online.

what and how

We specialise in handmade products, often special designs, and in natural and handmade materials for those who make things themselves. These days we use the proceeds of our not-for-profit sales for small-scale educational projects, in Indonesia and the Netherlands.
We have always had a large number of very varied goods from Indonesia- for Oooom Piet. We also imported articles for people with roots in the former Dutch Indies so they can express their identity in a positive way.
In the overoptimistic starting fase of ni9neLives we also bought many very nice things from colleagues from Vietnam.

We still have a lot of stock, even though we closed our shop quite a while ago Still we don't really want to be a webshop

If you want to buy some of our- let's not be too modest: fairly unique wares, it is best to send us an e-mail telling us what you would like to get from us. If we indeed think we can help you, please make an appointment by telephone to agree on a time to come to our house and find what you are looking for- or other things you'd never even thought of.
For more information about what we sell or rent out, please go to Oooom Piet's bi-lingual home page or, for a growing number of photo's of our goods, click here on our wares.

why

ni9neLives is one of the incarnations of the 16 september stichting, as are the 16 september pers and Oooom Piet. The 16 September Foundation tries to deal with all kinds of misery and suffering in playful and creative ways. ni9neLives was started to focus on more regions than just Indonesia- Oooom Piet's exclusive focus.
We are non-profit.
We have been trying, since 1996, to let people keep their pride and self-esteem by buying goods from them or paying for their services. This is our way of showing our respect to people who don't want to beg. Which is the alternative if you don't have enough money for food, medical care, your children's schools.
By earning money for work or by the sale of products people can feel free to decide how to use the money they get, how to try and improve their lives.
This may mean the money goes to building a house of one's own. Or to a dear one's cremation or another costly temple ceremony. Examples from our own Oooom Piet experience with people we know well. After the fact it is easy to understand their choices. But we could not have come up with them ourselves. It is hard to know what someone else needs most urgently and most deeply.
Our Pay4Play project on Nusa Penida is based on the same principles- which is why we put it with the first i in ni9neLives: instead of begging.

who
are the people behind ni9neLives

Both Lexa and Walter Jaffe were born outside the Netherlands. Walter had been a student from the US at the Leiden Observatory and settled in Leiden in 1986 together with Lexa and their three young children. Lexa came from Bandung, Java, in 1946, as a four-year old, when Indonesia was struggling to be independent from the Dutch.
We are primarily concerned with children, but the elderly are important to us as well. Here and elsewhere.