There are around 450children in the village, age from elementary to junior high. They have a proper school building only up to junior high. Those who want to continue to senior hig, have to go to the other island.

To build the library in komodo village, we work together w/ the kepala desa (pak adam). The space for the library is located below pak ridwan’s house (the houses in the village is rumah panggung, so we use the ‘kolong’ as library). The bookshelves are prepared by the community with the support of Taman Bacaan Pelangi.

When we arrived at the village, the children were lining up to welcome us with their ‘komodo’ theme song. So interesting. They even have a ‘manta ray’ mascot dancing during the songs.

We held WEW as usual. There were around 80 children attending the workshop.

Olga Lydia has been very helpful in arranging this visit and in getting the media coverage. So the promotion will be from the tourism side komodo island and books for hope is mentioned as well.
the media coverage,will come from more media, coz olga arranged press conf yesterday.

Acara ini merupakan kerjasama antara Books For Hope (BfH) dan PWCare (CSR Activity dari Price Waterhouse Cooper) dalam rangka merayakan dirgahayu kemerdekaan Indonesia yang ke-64. Pada kesempatan ini hadir Olga Lydia, duta baca dari Books for Hope yang juga bertindak sebagai juri untuk lomba mendongeng.

Antusiasme peserta lomba tidak terbendung. Sebut saja Gopi, walau belum fasih membaca ia tetap percaya diri untuk berdongeng di depan teman-temannya. Semangat Gopi untuk menunjukkan kemampuannya merupakan gambaran sekilas anak-anak Indonesia yang memiliki semangat untuk merdeka dari segala bentuk kebuta-hurufan dan merdeka untuk berkhayal melalui berbagai cerita yang bisa mereka akses dari buku-buku.

Bukan hanya anak-anak, tetapi orang tua, tetangga, kakak dan adik dari para peserta pun turut memberi tanggapan positif terhadap acara ini. Hal tersebut dapat dilihat dengan membludaknya penonton. Mereka berbondong-bondong untuk menyaksikan kemampuan membaca dan berdongeng dari para peserta.

Semangat ini jugalah yang tumbuh di Books for Hope dan PWCare untuk terus membantu pengadaan buku untuk taman bacaan di Muara Angke.  Salah satu orang yang berjasa dengan hadirnya taman bacaan ini adalah pak Mahmud, salah satu anggota Komisi Nasional Perlindungan Anak. Pak Mahmud mendambakan anak-anak di desa Muara Angke kelak dapat berhasil di kehidupan. Dan ia percaya, salah satu faktor yang dapat mendukung terwujudnya impian itu adalah dengan menyediakan tempat dan bacaan yang berkualitas. Niat ini disambut hangat oleh Books for Hope yang langsung menggandeng PWCare sebagai partner dalam proyek ini.

Sudah hampir 2,5 bulan ini BFH dan PWCare bekerjasama untuk mengadakan buku berkualitas bagi anak-anak di perkampungan nelayan Muara Angke . Tidak hanya itu, BfH dan PWCare juga secara rutin memberikan Weekend Enrichment Workshop yang mengajarkan anak-anak berdongeng, menggambar dan mewarnai, menyanyi serta permainan interaktif lainnya.  Tujuannya tak lain dan tak bukan agar anak-anak di desa tersebut dapat tumbuh menjadi pribadi yang berwawasan dan memiliki creative thinking.

Acara tidak berakhir sampai disana. Setelah mengumumkan pemenang untuk lomba mendongeng, maka acara dilanjutkan dengan lomba ala 17-an. Perayaan 17-an tidak akan afdol tanpa lomba makan kerupuk dan juga lomba joget balon. Bahkan, Olga Lydia, sang juri juga tidak ragu-ragu untuk turut serta dalam lomba makan krupuk dan berbagi kecerian dengan masyarakat di desa nelayan tersebut.

Demikianlah segelintir cerita dari desa nelayan Muara Angke. Dengan semangat dan kerja keras, Books for Hope akan terus berusaha untuk mengadakan buku dan taman bacaan tidak hanya di Muara Angke, tetapi di berbagai desa di pelosok Indonesia. Sudah saatnya anak Indonesia juga merdeka dari segala pembodohan dan kebuta-hurufan. Dirgahayu Republik Indonesia. Merdeka!

In a remote village 6 hours from Padang town, children were asked to work instead of  going to school. Children’s world is limited only to 3 types of occupation.

The team from Books for Hope conducted its first Weekend Enrichment Workshop at this village, welcomed by a breathtaking landscape – highlands, blue skies and fresh air. Around 80 children were eagerly waiting for us in their ‘wooden hut’ makeshift school. The remaining space in the small hut was filled with equally as excited mothers. The Village Head, School Headmaster, a local Parliamentary member, an English teacher and 3 other teachers were there too. We were given a warm and grand welcome with the supply of a microphone and a box speaker, running on a generator set.

Speeches were made, and the book presentation symbolic gesture was done. The fun part begins! We asked the group of children what do they want to be when they grow up. Out of 100 children, there were only 3 answers! Teacher, doctor and farmer!

In their minds, those were the only 3 occupations they knew. Their parents were mostly farmers, they have 4 teachers, and a doctor from the city visits them once a year for medical check-up. They had no idea that they could be a scientist, an astronaut, a lawyer, or even a seamstress!

Our team spent 1 hour using pop-up charts, colors and story books to introduce them to a world beyond their current predisposition. We also taught them about the physical world – i.e. where Indonesia is, where the US, China and Europe are, etc. The younger kids joined a coloring competition of pictures of occupations and the older ones wrote an essay of ‘Cita-cita Saya’ (My Ambition) each.

Prizes were given to outstanding work! Of course everyone else left with a pencil, a book and a Books for Hope bag!

We were glad that in that one workshop, we have opened up 100 childrens’ minds to more possibilities. Hopefully, to get to their now new ambitions, they will study and read the 500 books that are now theirs!

In a village in Cianjur, 3 hours from Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta. Dili, an 11 year old student is an avid reader and one of the brightest child we have met. Being more fortunate than other children in her village, she was smart enough to enter one of the best primary schools in a nearby town. There, she got offered an Accelerated program and completed her primary school at the age of 11, a year earlier than usual. Although a year younger, she finished at 10th place in a school of 600 students.

As her father goes for business in Jakarta intermittently, she has a small collection of books in her room. Dili’s favourite is the set of Harry Porter in Indonesian language. She reads so much that her parents’ income could not keep up with her passion for reading. As a result, she has read each book from her collection 5 times – from end to end. Her parents have brought her books for her future enrollment into high school, books that are for 14 year olds. That too – she has read several times- from end to end. Out of books, she writes her own books from brown writing paper. She writes stories of children, fantasy and horror. She is also the Illustrator of her books, providing each chapter with drawings of her own. She is not only bright but entrepreneurial. She sells these self-made story books for Rupiah 5000 each (Rp 4000 if her buyers provide writing paper). That is USD 0.50 and USD 0.40 each. From her small book collection, she also rents books to her friends for Rupiah 500 per book for a period of 3 days. She hopes to be an English Teacher one day.

When she heard that Books for Hope is setting up a library in her village, she was thrilled! Now with 1000 bright and colorful books right in front of her house, Dili is busier than before. Reading several books a day, she is a glowing example to other children in the village. She also guides younger kids on reading and writing.