Youths donate books to children<\/p>\n
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Concern that deprived children have limited access to knowledge
\nencouraged nine youths to form the 1001buku community in January
\nlast year, with as its main goal the provision of as many books
\nas possible for such children.<\/p>\n
On its first anniversary on Saturday, 1001buku held a book-
\ndonating fair at the Harkat Bangsa Foundation office in an effort
\nto see more people donate used books.<\/p>\n
\"Our task is to find more donors to enable us to distribute
\nbooks to other libraries throughout the country,\" said the
\ncommunity coordinator, Dwi Andayani.<\/p>\n
Some libraries that have received books from the community
\ninclude the Pustakaloka Rumah Dunia library, Serang, Banten, the
\nCombat library, Bogor, and the Tanah Merah library, Babue, Papua.<\/p>\n
Dwi said that the 1001buku community only accepted children's
\nbooks because they would be handed over to children aged six to
\n14 years old. She had to check comics before distributing them to
\nlibraries because sometimes they had adult content.<\/p>\n
The community also has another scheme, Book-Drop-Box, where,
\nat specific locations, people can drop books they wish to donate.<\/p>\n
\"The program is now running at some schools and office
\nbuildings,\" said Dwi.<\/p>\n
Book-Drop-Box locations include the LabSchool in Kebayoran,
\nThe British Council on Jl. Jend. Sudirman and PT BASF Indonesia
\nin Kuningan, all in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The program has been successful in encouraging youngsters to
\ndonate books. One of the donors, Ratih from privately run
\nLabSchool junior high school, managed to collect 11,000 books
\nfrom her friends.<\/p>\n
\"I like to read books. I often think of deprived kids who have
\nno access to books. So, I asked my friends at school to donate
\ntheir used books,\" said the 13-year-old girl.<\/p>\n
The community now has 62 boxes of books, or around 12,000 in
\ntotal. The number of volunteers has also increased to some 800
\npeople.<\/p>\n
To find out more about the 1001buku community, people can
\naccess it through its website, www.1001buku.org.<\/p>\n
\"Everything in 1001buku is donated by people who are concerned
\nat improving children's reading habits. The distribution has even
\nbeen funded by a private logistics company,\" said Dwi.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/youths-donate-books-to-children-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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