Barbie is savior to deformed sisters

Barbie is savior to deformed sisters

Firdia Lisnawati/AP

Sisters Alit Astini, left, and Putu Restiti display Barbie dolls as they sit on wheel chair outside their house in Songan village, Kintamani, Bali, Indonesia.

Putu Restiti and her little sister, Alit, have felt invisible most of their lives, hidden in a run-down shack because they were born with twisted limbs some believe were caused by evil spirits.

They were kept out of school and had no friends. But like children everywhere, they had powerful imaginations. After being given a Barbie doll, they started stitching tiny, intricate outfits for her from their mother's sewing scraps. And in doing so, they created a new world for themselves.

Word of their beautiful and delicate designs spread. They were displayed for sale in Bali's top tourist area and neighborhood kids started visiting, first to watch and then to request their own.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" 21-year-old Putu says to Alit after adding a final stitch to a traditional batik gown, pulling it over Barbie's golden locks and then tightening a clasp around the iconic doll's petite waist and high bust.

"Yes," the pigtailed 11-year-old whispers. "So sexy."

Indonesia's resort island of Bali with its white-sand beaches, five-star hotels and throbbing nightclubs attracts millions of tourists every year. They include everyone from Paris Hilton (who gushed to fans during a recent visit that she'd finally found "paradise") to backpackers and surfers. And with her starring role in "Eat, Pray, Love," Julia Roberts helped bring a different pilgrim to the "Island of the Gods": spiritual seekers.

But there is a dark side as well for children like Putu and Alit, neither of whom can stand nor walk because of problems that occurred during breech births.

The disabled sisters began stitching tiny, intricate outfits for her from their mother's sewing scraps. ( Firdia Lisnawati/AP)

Unlike the rest of the sprawling archipelagic nation, which is predominantly Muslim, most Balinese are Hindu. Their unique form of the faith stresses worshipping of ancestors and a belief that prosperity can only be achieved with the blessings of dead relatives.

Those with deformities are said to embody the "bad" spirits of those who have lived before. An embarrassment to families, some are locked away. In the most extreme cases, they're abandoned, left to fend for themselves.

That's what led to the search for Putu two years ago.

Sakti Soediro, a volunteer with a health foundation that helps disabled youths, was looking through a midwife's files describing a breech birth nearly two decades ago in which the baby was born feet first and the mother nearly lost her life.