Education Indonesia Project #12702

Help Promote Good Reading Habits in Kalimantan

by Yayasan Usaha Mulia / Foundation for Noble Work

Project Report | Aug 16, 2021
How your support has helped students like Fikri!

By Yolanda Utami Nilasari | Program Development Coordinator

Meet Fikri, one of YUM's Tutoring participants

Hello friends!

I hope all is well with you and everyone you love.

With your generous support, the tutoring program has been running very well at our community library. One of the mothers recently told us about the impact the program has had on her son after only a few months enrolled in this program:

“My son, Fikri, is in 1st grade this year. Since day one, he has never been in the classroom and never even met his teacher. Because of the pandemic, all of his school activities are done from home. At the beginning of the semester, he could hardly hold and use a pencil. He also did not read or work on his school assignments because he thought the school was on holiday. I often found myself in desperation and the thought of discontinuing Fikri's school often crossed my mind. But since he enrolled at YUM's Tutoring program, he has shown a great interest in learning. Not only does he go for tutoring, but Fikri also enjoys his time at the library for the book collection and the outdoor activities. Thank you YUM, for facilitating the tutoring sessions and making sure that my child is in a safe environment. It truly has been a great help for parents like me. "

As you may have seen on the news, Indonesia is currently one of the countries with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world. Therefore, the Indonesian Educational Ministry's plan to start face-to-face classes for the academic year of 2021/2022 was postponed. The government has launched an emergency imposition of restrictions on the community until further notice, depending on the decrease in the number of Covid cases in each region. Hence, YUM’s Community Library will continue to facilitate small group learning sessions for the students in the area. With your generous support, we wish to keep more students like Fikri motivated to learn.

In other news: YUM’s 2020 Annual Report has been published! Find out more about all our activities by going to YUM's 2020 Annual Report

Also, this year YUM is celebrating its 45th anniversary. Mrs. Ismana Haryono, a member of our Board of Supervisors, has been with us for more than 40 years. She shares her memories about the beginnings of YUM and her wish for YUM’s future. Please take a few minutes to watch the video at Reminiscing YUM's Beginnings: How it all started and the challenges faced

Last but not least, out of 400+ entries, YUM has been selected as a Finalist for the 2021 GlobalGiving Photo Contest!! Voting starts TODAY, Monday, August 16th, 2021 until Friday, August 20th. Please go and vote for our photo so we can get a chance to win up to $1,000 in support of our COVID-19 relief program. You can see our photo here: https://www.globalgiving.org/poll/vote/?pollOptionId=1534

Fikri and his mother in front of YUM's Library

Miss Rusti teaching how to counting with finger

Free access to the library book collection

Tutoring session with Miss Ardha

Tutoring session with Miss Rusti

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May 6, 2021
Keeping our spirits up through dance!

By Yolanda Utami Nilasari | Program Development Coordinator

The Dance Club members enjoying practising outdoor

Dear kind donors,

We hope that this newsletter finds you well.

Life in Central Kalimantan since the pandemic is still far from normal, however, life must go on. Besides our daily tutoring sessions with primary school students, as well as the regular children who come to read books at the library, last December, we decided to reopen the dance club. The Dance Club has always been a big part of the Community Library. The dance club members have even performed in several local and national official ceremonies. Before the pandemic, once a week around 30 children would come to practice traditional dances as well as traditional musical instruments.

The decision to reopen the Dance Club was taken with great consideration and responsibility. Since this activity takes place outside the library, with enough space between the dancers, we thought it would be safe for children to come and dance again. We believe that this class can provide a recreational and relaxing activity for the children who have gone through so much this past year. The classes are also great for the children's physical and mental well-being, especially during this pandemic. Many positive impacts come from learning dancing, such as a healthier body, learning about discipline, teamwork, and an increase in children's self-confidence. Hopefully soon, we will be able to reopen other activities at our library.

We have a special surprise for you this month: check out a video of the Kalimantan library activities " YUM Community Library in Kalimantan " we hope through this video that you will be able to transport yourself to Central Kalimantan!

On another note, we had the honor to be interviewed by GlobalGiving for their recent article called "Education in COVID-19 era" in which YUM’s Executive Director, Vanessa Reksodipoetro, was one of the contributors. Read the article to find out the challenges that students are facing around the world and how we, as nonprofits on the ground, are helping students bridge the gaps.

Dance Club for the younger children

Dance Club for the older children

Only when it rains do we gather inside

A glass of milk for everyone after practising

Hands washing before and after practising

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Jan 11, 2021
Our project has been chosen as GlobalGiving's January 2021 Project Of The Month!

By Yolanda Utami Nilasari | Program Development Coordinator

A small group learning at YUM Library

Dear friends and supporters,

Happy New Year!

We wish you a new year filled with peace, joy, and prosperity! We survived 2020 and thrived because of your continued support. We were able to exceed our goals and expand our services because of the generosity and commitment of people like you.

As we begin this New Year, we are thrilled to inform you that this project, Help Promote Good Reading Habits in Kalimantan, has been chosen as GlobalGiving's Project of the month for January 2021! Our project to enhance the quality of literacy and education in Central Kalimantan was duly selected from a pool of more than 5,000 nonprofit projects in 170+ countries. Nearly 3,000 donors come together and make monthly donations to keep the Project of the Month going. This extra support means the world to us—and to the children living in Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan.

In Indonesia, schools have been closed for almost 10 months now creating an enormous learning loss for children since most of them have to learn on their own. YUM learned of this information through conversations with parents, teachers, and the students themselves. In the area where the YUM Community Library is located, small groups of people are allowed to gather with special permits, adhering to strict COVID-19 protocols. Therefore we applied for this permit and took this opportunity to facilitate small group learning sessions and provide tutoring activities for primary school students who struggle with reading, writing, and math. The tutoring classes run with a maximum of ten students taught by one tutor. They attend classes once a week and the lesson lasts for one and a half hours. All of the participants have attained permission from their parents to come to our premises. We hope that this small initiative will help keep the kids in Bukit Batu, not only learning but also be excited by it.

We look forward to continuing our efforts and reaching out for more children to help this year and we can only do so with your continued compassion and generous support.

Sincerely,

Yolanda

Project Leader

Please wear mask and wash your hand first!

This group is learning about time with Miss Ardha

Reading session: Practice makes perfect!

Math learning session

A glass of milk for every student!

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