Education is life, it should never stop
-Mas Indra of #PerpusKreatif

I have a concern about children education in Indonesia and been wondering if there’s anything I could do about it. After my blog post, @inandatiaka email me directly. We manage to meet and talk more about this. Well, I do most of the talk :)) Basically I push her & Satrio to finally act on their ideas about grassroot movement on education. And to my surprise, they work fast. They make Child Can Lead movement (twitter @ChildCanLead ) with @emiralda joining the team. And after couple of months, yesterday, I can finally see #perpuskreatif, a library they create to facilitate their activities and I’m so proud of them.

Meet Mbak Nur. She & her husband, Mas Indra, maybe two of the most amazing people I’ve ever known in my entire life. They live in a small space in Tanjung Priuk area, North Jakarta. Yet, they giveaway HALF space of their house, for children’s library. Their concern in education and social issues around the neighborhood, with limitation in their life, has really really amaze me (and make me truly ashamed of myself).

The event starting with me, as the writer who published several books, try to motivate them to write. I really need to learn more on how to do this properly, because I got more invitation to speak in front of children and I’ve been clueless about it. Just follow my instinct :))

Then a group of children gathered to start writing. I have a group of little children age around 6 years old. I tried to find ways to build their imagination. Sukesih, the girl with the green tee, is doing a good job. She can describe what clothes she wear when she went to the zoo with her family and she said in her writing that he actually want ice cream when her mother give her something else. Sukesih won the third prize and she got to read her piece in front of her friends.

Fany, won the first prize. She’s 11. She wrote about how she wanted to be a doctor. And why she wanted to be a doctor. It’s a very amazing piece. Very proud of her. She can expressed her dream. She knows what she wanted.

Other children been struggling to write, and one of them even have difficulties in writing that I finally asked her to just tell me about it. Check the video, where she tell the story, and her friends been passionately writing and asking what more should they write. And I didn’t allow them to use the eraser. Because they could never finish their writing. Ps: for you who read this, yes YOU, when you write, don’t push the backspace, ok? 😛

After playing some more games, we finally wrap the writing workshop. It’s been a lot of fun. Hopefully they can publish a book together. I’ll be glad to publish it with NulisBuku.com 🙂

I’m touched to see how children been so excited to greet us, their brothers & sisters. They even make an effort to create some crafts and welcome message for us!

My new friends, volunteers of #perpuskreatif, keep the spirit!

We’ve been trying to research new method to effectively educate children. If you have experiences in this matter, please do leave comment on the box, we could collaborate or discuss in any way.

Last but not least, if you care about children education in Indonesia, because they’re our future, please spread the words!

Follow @bincangedukasi too, bimonthly event about grassroot education movements in Indonesia.