Future in doubt for a foundation

Rhiannon Horrell ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  JAKARTA   |  Sun, 02/15/2009 10:50 AM  |  Lifestyle

Children in a fourth-grade class at son Cikoko 04 are excited to read the books provided by the wandering books foundation.

The gift of reading is taken for granted by some Indonesian children as for many the goal is unattainable. Yayasan Pustaka Kelana is helping to change that.

Excited children clamber over one another as they reach into a box of 75 books, trying to secure a good pick. This is a good day for the school children of SDN Cikoko 04 Pagi in East Jakarta, as Pustaka Kelana has visited.

Yayasan Pustaka Kelana runs the Wandering Books Foundation, a small non-profit organization that arranges for boxes of books to be loaned to schools to help children learn to read. Founded 12 years ago, the future of the Foundation is in doubt as money from sponsors has begun to dry up.

Nasti Reksodiputro, head of programs at the Foundation, said that in 2005 they were able to visit 25 schools, but have since had to half that number.

Head of programs at yayasan Pustaka Kelana, Nasti Reksodiputra says both she and the sponsored-schools are worried about the box of books service continuing.

“The schools need this because the government money is not enough to build a library. None of the schools we visit have a library.”

Ragil, nine-years old, was one of the lucky children to be pulling a book from the box that day.

“I have been reading Noddy and his friends,” she said, “It only took me five minutes to read. My favorite are princess stories.”

The fourth grader is one of the few who has books available to read at home and says her mother often buys them for her. Her classmate, nine-year old Farhan, is not so lucky. He doesn’t have many books at home but says he likes to read comics, in particular the Japanese Doraemon series.

Headmaster Partuti is pleased with the service the Wandering Book Foundation has provided to her school.

“They become more creative, they have a broader vision and they learn more,” she said of the power of books.

At this location, three schools share one building - a level each. SDN Cikoko 04 Pagi is fortunate enough to have a sponsor who ensures that Pustaka Kelana’s book service can continue. Nasti says her organization sets aside six million rupiahs per year for each school they visit.

In addition to the box of books service, the Wandering Books Foundation has a small library in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, where the local community can come to read.

“People like the idea of having this library, many people are interested. I think the children who come to this library perform better in school,” Nasti says.

She jokes that the library has turned into a day care, as children arrive to be cared for and fed during the day while their parents work.

“Recently, we discovered that two parts of the library roof had to be replaced as heavy rains caused leaks that filled up to eight buckets of water,” Nasti said. “The repairman reported that the roof had almost caved in. These repairs cost us more than ten million rupiah,” she added.

Nasti founded the organization with three of her friends, two of which were alumni from the University of Indonesia. They decided to set up a mobile library, but didn’t have the resources.
“We didn’t have a car, we didn’t have any books, we only had good intentions,” she laughs. The British Council then donated 2500 children’s books, which gave them a strong start. The library now has around 9000 books, 70 per cent of which are in Indonesian, 30 per cent in English and a few in other languages.

With regard to the children scrambling through the box of books, Nasti says: “They don’t have any books at home; they can’t afford to buy books because these are lower-middle class children. Sometimes they don’t even have enough money to buy their text books. They are very happy to be able to read.”

With up to 60 children visiting the library every day and potentially thousands attending the sponsored-schools, Yayasan Pustaka Kelana will surely leave a huge educational gap should it be forced to close.

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