Under the hot sun of Ende Island on 12 September 2018, people at Puutara Elementary School were busy with their respective activities, but none of them did the teaching and learning activities. Unlike the other days, today is noisy as there is one large speaker that emits sounds of Indonesian songs that are sometimes mimicked by people who listen. The students immediately gathered near the speakers when the songs “Goyang Dua Jari” and “Lagi Syantik” were played and danced their hearts out, challenging the heat of the sun that day.

What they did at that time was to prepare for the inauguration of the SDN Puutara library which would begin at 1:00 pm because the Rainbow Reading Gardens team was attending the inauguration of the SDI Metinumba 1 and SDI Metinumba 2 libraries.

The principal, teachers, librarians, and students get their own tasks for this big event. All want to make sure the event this time runs smoothly, so they are willing to spend energy and time to welcome the guests celebrating the library’s inauguration.

At around 1:00 p.m., the guests were finally present and were invited to sit with the parents present. Guests were invited to see performance from students, one of them is modern dance with their favorite songs that make them approach the previous speaker. The audience, who consisted of the Head of Ende Island Sub-District, Founder of the Rainbow Reading Gardens, Nila Tanzil, Representative of Ende DoL, Kab. Ende, Mas Djuwita, and the parents, were entertained by the funny acts of these children.

Performance by Students of SDN Puutara

During the ribbon cutting, all who attended took part in cheering for the opening of the library, which was located approximately 1 hour by boat from downtown Ende.

One of the things that caught my attention that day was the concern of Ende Island Sub-District Head for education in his area. He was willing to make time to be able to attend this event and witness how enthusiastic the children were when reading books in the library.

Ribbon Cutting by Nila Tanzil, Founder of Rainbow Reading Gardens, Accompanied by Principal of SDN Puutara, Yohri Yusuf, Head of Ende Island Subdistrict, and Representative of Ende DoL

 

When parents and students of SDN Puutara finally entered the library, there was relief in the faces of the teachers. Those people have worked hard to organize, level books, and write book lists. A few days before the inauguration, one of the teachers told me that there was one day when they came home at 9 pm from school because they wanted to finish the library setup in the library.

Now, everything they have worked for can be paid off. Children can enjoy books in the library. Hopefully, this spirit will not decrease so that the children at SDN Puutara  can have a habit of reading, both at school and at home.

Ibu Lilis, Librarian of SDN Puutara Accompanying Children at the Library