It was such a beautiful day… the sky was so blue and the sea looked so calm. We departed from Labuan Bajo to Kukusan Island by a small fisherman boat. It took us only 30 minutes to get to this small island.. what an easy ride, especially with such a stunning view all around, we didn’t mind staying on the boat longer!

Me, Junaedi (our coordinator for islands area) and Andreas Schuck, my good friend from Germany who’s holidaying in Flores and dedicated some of his holiday time to be involved in Rainbow Reading Gardens’ activities, used those 30 minutes to prepare the books for our new reading garden in Flores. Yep… this time was for Kukusan Village! The only village on Kukusan Island.

Kukusan Village is a tiny little village with only around 70 families inhabitants. There is only one school in this village, an elementary school with 40 students from 1st to 6th grade. They have only four teachers, which means some of the teachers have to teach more than one class.

As soon as we landed on the island, the kids greeted us and called their friends to join the crowd. They gathered in the location of Rainbow Reading Gardens and couldn’t hide their excitement to hear about the good news that we brought

We explained about Rainbow Reading Gardens to them, including the rules that they could only read the books in the location. They listened carefully and nodded at times. The vibe got wilder when we opened the boxes and showed them the books! Their eyes were glowing and they’re smiling widely. Ahhh… sooo nice!

Starting from today, Rainbow Reading Gardens in Kukusan Village opens every Saturday from 3-5pm. Children who live on Kukusan Island now can enjoy reading story books, just like any other kids who live in the big cities  . Thank you to our friends who have donated money, books, time and energy to make this project happens! Thank you.. thank you… and thank you!