For education: Nila Tanzil (center) poses with students in one of the places where nonprofit organization Taman Bacaan Pelangi works to improve education.

The thought of leaving the comforts of financial security and career is very frightening for some but Nila Tanzil did just that so she could set up libraries in the country’s remote areas.

For the past seven years, Nila Tanzil has spent much of her time establishing Taman Bacaan Pelangi, a non-profit organization that works on setting up libraries in remote areas in eastern Indonesia.

She recently wrote Lembar-Lembar Pelangi (Pages of Rainbow), a book celebrating how her journey with the organization has shaped and inspired her.

“I wrote this book hoping that it would open people’s eyes to the situation of education in eastern Indonesia. Hopefully, it will inspire people to start contributing for the improvement of education in this country, especially in the eastern part of Indonesia,” says Nila.

According to the Indonesian National Library, even by 2015, only 45.9 percent of 170,647 elementary schools in Indonesia had libraries set up for their students. A majority of those schools are located in eastern Indonesia.

For Nila, an avid traveler, those facts were unacceptable. Books provided the only source of information and outside perspective that many in those regions had.

“[I think it’s important for us to have an accurate picture of education in Indonesia — and not only in the country’s western part, but also the eastern part. And unfortunately, not everyone is aware of that,” explains Nila.

So far, Taman Bacaan Pelangi has established 39 libraries across 15 islands in eastern Indonesia, providing access to over 85,000 books for more than 12,000 children.

Each library holds a rotating a collection of between 1,000 to 3,000 children’s story books — many of which come from donations. A few of the libraries are located on tiny islands in the east, far away from any kind of school.

“Some are up in the remote hills, and you have to take a car, a motorcycle and then walk to get to the village,” Nila says.

“Most times there is no electricity. But the kids are happy and they love getting their hands on a book […] All of these experiences gave me a better understanding about local culture and most importantly, the quality of education and infrastructure.”

For Nila, this is the kind knowledge and sense of fulfillment that she wanted her book to share. Having previously worked a corporate job, it wasn’t easy for the mother of one to leave that world behind. But knowing that helping others would add much more to her life, Nila decided to take the plunge.

“The book is about our journey, a compilation of stories of happy, heartwarming, sad/emotional and inspiring moments, and challenges. It’s an in-depth look at my own self-doubt in answering the ‘call’. [In the book] I also talk about how to overcome those doubts and challenges.”

Nila recalled that it wasn’t an easy and instantaneous process leaving the comfort of her corporate job. Even when she finally did it, the reality of establishing something from nothing sometimes felt overwhelming.

“And once I finally decided to leave my career in the corporate world and to focus on growing Taman Bacaan Pelangi, it wasn’t easy. Other people might feel and experience the same thing. Some people might feel that there are other things they should do in life, but the thought of leaving everything behind [financial security, career, etc] is so frightening,” Nila says, who describes herself as formerly being a “city girl” with a “fast-paced career in the private sector”.

“I’ve been in that situation and I know that it’s not an easy thing to do. But I also want to say that it’s worth it.”

Taman Bacaan Pelangi works closely with local stakeholders, including teachers, school principals, local leaders, heads of the education, district offices and parents.

She said that there is library period in the curriculum in which a class goes to the library for one hour per week.

“During this Library Period, the teacher conducts reading activities [which include] reading aloud, shared reading, paired reading,” Nila explains.

More importantly, Taman Bacaan Pelangi provides capacity-building workshops for principals and teachers on library management system and reading activities, to provide them with the skills needed to run the library sustainably and properly.

Understanding that children — especially in remote areas — do not have equal reading skills, even if they are in the same class, the organization also prepares a system where books are leveled based on each child’s reading comprehension.

Nila’s hope is that in reading Lembar-Lembar Pelangi, Indonesians will have a clearer understanding of their country’s quality of education, and what must be done to better it.

Readers, she said, would hopefully understand how Taman Bacaan Pelangi works and operates as well as its library system and why their model is sustainable.

“People who want to start building community libraries will definitely benefit from reading this book. Hopefully, by reading Lembar-Lembar Pelangi, people will be inspired to start creating initiatives to contribute positively for the betterment of Indonesia.”

— Photos courtesy of Nila Tanzil

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