??????????

Eastern Indonesia has so much potential, yet the area remains underdeveloped and at the mercy of limited of infrastructure. Eastern Indonesia has the lowest literacy rate in the country. These glaring challenges prompted Taman Bacaan Pelangi [Rainbow Reading Gardens] to focus on the Eastern part of the country, providing children’s books to remote areas in an effort to nurture early-childhood reading habits.

Taman Bacaan Pelangi [Rainbow Reading Gardens] was established in November 2009 in Flores. In close collaboration with village leaders, Nila Tanzil, our founder, established 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 now houses over 3,000 children’s books.

In 2013, Taman Bacaan Pelangi has officially registered as a foundation under the name of “Yayasan Pelangi Impian Bangsa”. This is an important step forward and the realisation of a dream to give children in the remote areas of Indonesia access to books.

With the support of volunteers and donors from around the world, NGOs and respected corporations, Taman Bacaan Pelangi [Rainbow Reading Gardens] has grown from a way to give back, to a way of life. To date, we have established more than 100 child-friendly libraries in remote islands in Eastern Indonesia. Our goal is simple: more books and more libraries means kids in remote areas in Indonesia are given access to books and stories that will open a whole new world of opportunity.

Taman Bacaan Pelangi received the “Nugra Jasadarma Pustaloka 2013” Award  from the National Library of  Republic of Indonesia for our work in encouraging the love of reading to children in remote areas of Eastern Indonesia.

Our children’s libraries across remote islands in Eastern Indonesia are located in Flores (including Komodo Island, Rinca Island, Messah Island, and other small islands around), Timor, Alor, Sulawesi, Lombok, Sumbawa, Banda Neira (in Banda Islands – the Spice Islands, Maluku), Sulawesi, Bacan Island (South Halmahera), and Papua.

Each library has at least 1,250 children’s books up to 3,000 books. We also trained the local teachers in those remote islands in order to improve their capacity and skills. We are committed to contribute to the betterment of education quality in Indonesia.