By Jeff | Field Notes from Bali
It’s easy to romanticize life in Bali — the open-plan villas, the breeze flowing through the trees, infinity pools overlooking rice paddies. But sometimes, the things we don’t plan for come rushing in uninvited.
That’s exactly what happened to Tom and Nadia, a couple who had recently finished building their dream home in Ubud. Their villa was everything they’d imagined — sleek glass doors, indoor-outdoor living, a jungle view that looked like it belonged in a coffee table book.
And then their five-year-old daughter Mila got dengue.
“It started like a regular fever,” Nadia told me when I visited their home. “We thought she just needed rest. But within a day, she was getting worse — her energy dropped, and she wasn’t eating. We took her to the hospital and they told us her platelet count was dropping. It was dengue. I couldn’t believe it.”
Mila spent three nights in the hospital. Thankfully, she recovered. But the experience shook the family.
“We had done everything we thought we were supposed to do,” Tom added. “Filtered water, clean food. But we hadn’t considered mosquitoes — not seriously. We had no mosquito screens. Just open glass sliders everywhere.”
It’s a story I’ve now heard a few too many times.
To understand what could’ve been done differently, I reached out to Calibre — a company in Bali known for creating sleek, integrated mosquito screen systems that work seamlessly with modern villa designs.
Filly, one of the directors at Calibre, told me, “We’re seeing more families come to us after a scare. They think screens will ruin the aesthetic of their homes, but we design them to enhance it — clean lines, flush fittings, no visible tracks. Most people don’t even notice the screens until they’re told.”
Tom and Nadia had Calibre retrofit their villa after Mila’s recovery. “We didn’t want to take another risk,” Nadia said. “The screens are beautiful — they don’t block the view, but they give us peace of mind. It’s not even about comfort anymore — it’s health.”
I asked Calibre why screens still aren’t part of most new villa builds in Bali.
“Many developers are focused on cost or speed,” Filly said. “Screens get left out. But dengue is real here. It’s not a ‘maybe’ — it’s a matter of when. And every time we install after a case, I think, ‘This could have been prevented.’”
She’s right. As someone who’s spent years writing about design, travel, and life in the tropics, I’ve seen how easy it is to prioritize beauty over basics. But there’s nothing beautiful about a sick child in a hospital bed.
If you’re building a villa, developing a property, or moving into your dream Bali home — think ahead.
Screens aren’t an add-on. They’re a necessity — just like clean water or good roofing.
Villa owners: protect your families.
Developers: lead the market by making screens standard.
Designers: create with both beauty and safety in mind.
Let Mila’s story be a wake-up call — not just for one family, but for an entire industry that still sees dengue as “someone else’s problem.”
— Jeff