Stichting Hibiscus, a foundation based in The Netherlands, contacted us a while ago to express their interests in supporting Taman Bacaan Pelangi. After communicating via email and receiving information about this project, Stichting Hibiscus decided to hold a charity event in The Netherlands to collect donation from the locals there! Wow!

Ibu Ine Waworuntu, the founder of Stichting Hibiscus, told me, “We explained about Taman Bacaan Pelangi project and showed them some pictures of the reading gardens“.

One of them, Ibu Ninik Yuriani, went up to the stage and started to sing. She said, “Have any of you ever been to Indonesia yet?”

Some people raised their hands.

“For those of you who have been in Indonesia, don’t you think Indonesia is so beautiful?”

They nodded.

“Ok. Now, when you were in Indonesia, did you hear any word of ‘ngamen’“? Do you know what it means? [ngamen comes from the word ‘pengamen’, which means a street singer. after singing on the street, the singer will ask for money].

“So, tonight, I will ‘ngamen’ for you. And the money that you give, will be donated to build a reading garden for children who live in remote villages in Flores, one of the most beautiful places in Indonesia“, Ibu Ninik continued.

Them she started to sing. When she sang, a girl walked around with a box on her hand, passing the box from one guest to another. And… that night, they managed to collect… 500 Euro for Taman Bacaan Pelangi!!! Wowww!!

About a month later, Ibu Ine Waworuntu went to Indonesia and we met in Bali. She came to see me to give the donation for Taman Bacaan Pelangi. I was so touched to hear all the stories she told me about how they gathered this fund donation! Ahh… thank you so much, Ibu Ine. Thank you so much, Ibu Ninik. Thank you so much to all the friends in Stichting Hibiscus for all the efforts and supports given for this project!

And.. on behalf of Taman Bacaan Pelangi, we thanked everyone and our friends in The Netherlands for the donation! GBU all!