Reported by Serlinia Rambu Anawoli, alumna from Artha Wacana Christian University (Kupang)
On Sunday, July 14, 2019, as many as sixty eight participants consisting of fourty two children of Taman Baca Mangrove members were accompanied by six parents, twelve scholarship recipients, four alumni, and two VDMI PICs, and two staff from Yogjakarta gathered for the event “Creativity Building for Children in Taman Baca Oesapa”. Aside from being a gathering event, we conducted this activity as a form of direct interaction with children in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. Different from the activities at Taman Baca Mangrove every week, specifically on that day, we invited most of the Oesapa children to be involved in the Special Offerings from the Van Deventer-Indonesia Foundation. With various competition agendas including drawing, coloring, singing and telling stories, children seemed impatient to wait for the event to begin.
Right at 2:00 a.m., the children began to arrive and each hurried to find their favorite books to read. Some of them were just looking at pictures, reading pictures, telling stories, drawing to singing with their friends. Our “Creativity Building” begins with a brief introduction which is then followed by a race activity that is assisted by the recipient of the VDMI Kupang scholarship. The children were very happy and enthusiastic in every race activity given. In between the competitions, several alumni and VDMI staff from the Jogja Office held a discussion about the sustainability of the VDMI Kupang RR especially for Taman Baca Mangrove Oesapa as a pilot reading park for the VDMI Kupang.
RR VDMI Kupang Coordinator, Serlinia said that the enthusiasm of the children involved in the reading park was very high which could be seen from their increasing presence since the reading park was opened. However, there are several important problems that are often found. One of them is the limited number of children’s reading resources such as story books, fairy tales, children’s encyclopedias, children’s comics. Not infrequently, children feel uninterested in remembering donation books which mostly are school textbooks.
Reviewing these issues, we obtained several agreements during the discussion. First, we agreed to fundraising with the VDMI extended family for Taman Baca Mangrove to meet a number of needs such as the addition of reading books, providing bookshelves, book baskets, carpets, folding tables, drawing and coloring tools, hand washing places for children -children, hand wipes, trash bins and other needs.
In addition, it was also agreed to raise book donations from several other sources. Kak Noy, one of the alumni who is also a literacy volunteer in Atambua, helped to connect with several book service providers for NTT. We have the greatest hope for Taman Baca Mangrove to later become a learning resource for children on the coast of Oesapa.
After the discussion and competition session, we invited the children to continue by listening to the story read by Kak Noy about “Kampung Berkah”, a female comic published by the Indonesian Women’s Coalition. The children seemed to enjoy the session so much that they occasionally answered the questions posed by Kak Noy. Then, our activities ended with the announcement of the results of drawing, coloring, singing and storytelling competitions which were taken from the top 5 best of each race.
Not finished there, the VDMI family together continued a visit to the mangrove planting site while cleaning up the plastic wastes during the time. We really found a good home that helped each other, supported and motivated and was always connected to do good things. VDMI is our houses as well as our family. Immanuel, the first winner of the story telling competition said that he was very happy because he could meet new friends and be able to learn together.
Story Telling Competition
Casmira (alumna) tells story to children in Taman Baca Oesapa
The Winner of Story Telling
Cleaning up the plastic waste in Oesapa Coast
All Participants (PIC, Alumni, Grantees, and Children) in Taman Baca Oesapa