December 18, 2014

Dear Friends,

I finally had a chance to deliver books to one of our partners from last year Color Your Life program. Its called Warabal and it stands for Warung Baca Lebakwangi or the Lebakwangi Reading Stall.
This institution is located in Pamegarsari village, Parung, Bogor, Indonesia. The founder, Mrs. Kiswanti, was only an elementary school graduate who loves books and reading with a childhood dream of building a library of her own.
What interesting about Warabal is that this small library is free for everyone to use. Starting from the putting together books and magazine in her house terrace, she invited children from the surrounding areas to read. She even rode bicycle, selling jamu (Indonesian herbal medicine), in and out of several villages there, while bringing books so that villagers can borrow those reading materials. While riding the bicycle she would shout, Jamu... jamuuu... buku... bukuu... Yang mau sehat minum jamu, yang mau pinter baca buku!” (“Jamu... jamu... Books... books... Drink jamu if you want to be healthy. Read books if you want to be smart).
Warabal started with 180 books, and now it has a collection of approximately 8,000 books. The book collection is currently housed inside a two-storey house where it serves as a library as well as a community center.
I went to Warabal bringing my story and coloring books Mencintai Laut Indonesia (Loving Indonesian Oceans) and Mencintai Flora dan Fauna Indonesia Barat (Loving Flora and Fauna of Western Indonesia) for my new friends there.
They were so eager to get my books that several of them approached Aunty Helen several times to ask about when they could get the books. We had fun first before books and milk were distributed, and finally, we ended the event with picture taking.

Yours truly,
Didgit