Dear Friends...
Through my 2013 CSR activity, Children-Helping-Children Color Your Life, I gain new and lovely friends in Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Gardens) and its founder, Aunty Nila Tanzil. I write this article so that as many people can be inspired by their stories and follow their footsteps to do more goods.

I admire the passion and dedication of Aunty Nila Tanzil, in helping the underserved areas of Eastern Indonesia. She is a living example of how BIG one LITTLE individual can contribute to a LARGER society when she or he puts her or his HEART to it.

I am pretty sure that from your geography lesson at school you learn that Eastern Indonesia has so much potential, yet the area remains underdeveloped and at the mercy of limited of infrastructure. To make matters worst, Eastern Indonesia has the lowest literacy rate in the country! These glaring challenges prompted Taman Bacaan Pelangi to focus on the Eastern part of the country, providing childrens books to remote areas in an effort to nurture early-childhood reading habits.

Taman Bacaan Pelangi was started in November 2009 in Flores. Aunty Nila Tanzil worked together with village leaders, to create the first library in Roe, a small village in the foothills of Flores, with just 200 books. Today, with the help of donors and volunteers, Roe houses over 2,000 childrens books! Isnt that wonderful?

Taman Bacaan Pelangi continues to grow with the support of volunteers and donors, NGOs and respected corporations from around the world. It has grown from a way to give back, to a way of life. In three years, the numbers of childrens village libraries has grown to 26 across 11 islands in Eastern Indonesia! They have a simple believe that more books and more libraries can only mean one thing: kids in remote areas in Indonesia are given access to books and stories that in turn will open a whole new world of opportunity for them. They are given the chance to dream big because books will inspire, broaden their horizon and motivate them to reach their dream.

Once our friends realize their potentials and be a true star in the field, they will be able to give positive contribution to their local communities, be the agent of change and source of inspiration for others. They will be the ones who help break the cycle of poverty and change lives in their respective villages.

Therefore, I really hope that the 2,500 story and coloring books that I will help provide them with (where their first page are colored by students of Jakarta who care and support their new friends of Eastern Indonesia) accompanied by 2,500 coloring sets contributed by my other lovely friend, Cerebrofort, will both be useful as well as inspiring for my new friends served by Taman Bacaan Pelangi.

If you want to know more about Taman Bacaan Pelangi, you can also go to their website www.tamanbacaanpelangi.com


Truly Yours,
Didgit