Bike library promotes literacy, cultural awareness
Michael Shi Li Leung, Youthspeak | Wed, 04/08/2009 4:24 PM
Access to affordable education is a scarce commodity in the developing world. As a Canadian living in Indonesia, I have been frequently confronted with this social inequity as my school is surrounded by shantytowns whose many inhabitants cannot afford to send their children to school. I fully recognize that money for food and shelter must come before a child’s tuition for families living at the fringe. Sadly, the absence of education for these children contributes to an even greater tragedy; the loss of their cultural identity and ultimately, maybe their humanity. I am not one to just theorize about change and let things passively be because I realize that provisions need to be made by those who enjoy greater opportunities for those who do not. I have therefore undertaken to participatein a project to promote literacy and cultural awareness among the impoverished children living around my school.
Our project is called “Books by Bike”. Our mission was Bike library promotes literacy, cultural awareness crafted to address not only the need of every child to have access to an education but also the specific issue of these impoverished children losing touch with their own heritage. My contributions in this endeavor included producing storybooks –with illustrations as a visual aid – that espoused indigenous themes, and helping with the design and fabrication of a bicycle library that can reach the most inaccessible villages. I wrote and illustrated much of the material in the fi nal fi ve storybooks: 1,250 printed copies are currently in circulation.
This was a strenuous undertaking, but I was motivated by knowing that my efforts would not only entice many needy children to read but also teach them a little bit about their own culture. Now, every Wednesday I look forward to seeing our bicycle library making the rounds and the happy faces of the children reading the books I have written. This experience has taught me that one must sometimes employ creativity and imagination to solve our world’s social problems. I have realized that equality hasn’t been established by my efforts, but I have at least taken my fi rst step in trying to remedy it.
This issue is more important to me than just another “extracurricular activity”. My mother is Indonesian which makes me half Indonesian. I can already see my culture starting to disintegrate, as the ongoing global discord between the East and the West have created a rancorous void and disjointed many segments of humanity. I see this project as an act of engagement which can have both direct and positive ramifi cations on those living in my community and the world. If we the privileged continue to neglect or ignore the impoverished, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves when these poor children grow up to be radicalized, hateful or dehumanized.
I can happily report Books by Bike won second place in the 2007/2008 UNESCO Mondialogo School Contest, a global competition promoting respect for people of different cultures, religions and languages. This year 2,740 high school teams from 144 countries entered the competition.
The writer is a grade 12 student in British international school
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