Quality Education for Children in Indonesia

Thanks to your kind support, we are able to continue delivering boxes of books to schools in Cipanas, West Java, where Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM)’s project is located.

The program is part of YUM’s Community Library activities, where we want to impart good reading habits and experience for the children, especially students.  The Box of Books (BOB) program is fueled by the fact that there was limited access to educational facilities providing books for them.  Not many parents can afford to buy books because fulfilling their daily needs is still a priority. This is aggravated by the absence of public or school libraries. More than 30% of schools in Indonesia don’t have libraries. Even if they have a library, around 75% of them do not function optimally in terms of book collections and available supporting facilities.  

This mobile library system provides a box  with various books to several schools in the area.  Then every three months, the box will be returned to the Community Library and a different set of books will be circulated to the schools. Last semester, from January to June, there were almost 750 elementary school students from 3 different schools, who had access to these quality books.  

Let’s hear what the Bakom Elementary school principal has to say:

“For years, our school education report showed only 50% of our students reached the minimum competency in literacy skills.  To improve this, we need to find and retrieve quality reading sources. Sadly, we do not have a proper library as well as updated literacy sources. Therefore, when I heard about the BOB program from YUM, I sought more information on how to be part of it.  Since last year our school has been participating in this program, which has been proven effective for our students.  In the latest  report in mid- 2024, our students' literacy skills have improved to 94,4%. What a significant increase!”

And here is what a  4th grader from the school had to say:

“My friends and I enjoy the books that are sent by YUM to our school very much. I want to read all of the books, because all of them have  interesting  titles and covers.  At this moment, I read books about Indonesian national heroes.”

We thank you for making this activity possible! The Community Library strives to offer educational activities that otherwise would not be possible for the children living in the area. We hope you continue to support the project, and hope that one day you may be able to come visit us!

Warmly,

Yolanda Utami Nilasari

Indonesia faces the triple burden of malnutrition, including undernutrition, stunting, obesity and a lack in key micronutrients. In our project area of Cipanas, West Java, we can clearly see the various issues that lead to this problem, including not enough awareness around healthy nutrition. For the next three years, Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM) is focusing on a new program called “Nutrition In Action”, aiming to tackle malnutrition and bad eating habits in our community. 

One of the programs in Cipanas involves the preschoolers, and we collaborate with the parents to run the program. First, we invited a nutritionist to talk to the parents about the importance of eating healthy food for children. The nutritionist also shared samples of a daily nutritious menu to practice at home. The parents then committed to providing a healthy lunch for all the preschoolers every Wednesday, by cooking together at the school kitchen.

It has been a real success for our preschoolers who enjoy eating together and trying new types of food that they might have never eaten before. We are committed to continuing this program in the years to come. If you would like to help us do this, TODAY is the Little by Little event organized by GlobalGiving, who will be matching all donations up to $50 by 50%, from April 8 to April 12. Don’t miss out!

Thank you as always for your continued support of our educational activities for our young community members!