Hope
and knowledge are two very powerful things. Children reading together at Taman
Bacaan Pelangi in Roe Village, Flores. Photo courtesy of tamanbacaanpelangi.com
Activists have
helped the government enhance the education system in different ways. One such
initiative is the Gerakan Indonesia Mengajar, mobile library or
establishing a reading garden. For you, a reading garden may be very common to
see, especially if it is established in western Indonesia, like in Java or
Sumatera.
Although there
are a lot of activists who already have established a reading garden for
children, there is a special reading park called “Taman Bacaan Pelangi” or
Rainbow Reading Garden.
This reading
garden helps encourage children in eastern Indonesia to read more.
Founded by Nila
Tanzil four years ago when she was working as a communication consultant in
Labuan Bajo, NTT, this reading garden currently has several volunteers.
“When I was
working in Labuan Bajo, I frequently visited some remote villages. Eastern
Indonesia has limited book access. There is no library or bookstore. I decided
to create Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Garden) to boost the children’s
reading interest,” said Nila Tanzil in Jakarta several times ago.
The concept of
this reading garden's activity is by working together with the local people.
The location of reading park can be at a local's house or at culture studios.
The managers are mostly local teachers, though there are also some managers who
are working as farmers or fishermen.
“We started
with only 200 books, all of which were donated. However, now we can donate 500
to 4000 books to 26 villages located in 11 different islands across Indonesia.
We will also establish a new reading park in Puncak Jaya, Papua,” said Nila.
Despite the
limited book access and infrastructure, Nila chose to establish the reading
gardens in eastern Indonesia because the education gap between children in
western and eastern Indonesia is very large.
“The reading
gardens were met with a very enthusiastic welcome from the children. Their eyes
light up when they get a lot of books. We were very happy,” Nila added.
Various
activities have been conducted in Taman Bacaan Pelangi in order to boost the
children’s reading and studying interests. Weekly activities include story
telling, workshops for the managers and reading books along with the children.
In the future,
Nila hopes these reading gardens can also function as learning centers, where
children’s soft skill’s can be developed.
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