Being a part of the youth changemaker has given me the chance to benefit the community. The experiences in helping Taman Bacaan Pelangi to increase the literacy rate in Ende have widened my knowledge in terms of facilitating with parents and kids. With the collaboration of 10 members of ASEAN Youth changemaker proving the BudiBaca Team has shown the importance of ASEAN to work as one community. Throughout the 2 weeks implementation of the project, it has been invaluable experiences in terms of project management. When we arrived at Ende, we have scheduled to have trust-building activity between our team and the community which had the most impact throughout the project.

As an outsider, we need to understand the local culture and their daily lives, therefore, we are on the same shoes as them. With this, it has smoothened the project as the community are really engaging throughout the project. During the project, we have conducted a parent’s workshop and this workshop has strengthened the bonding between the parents and their kids. Therefore, now the parents knew another creative on how they can help their kids to improve their reading skills by reading aloud. The most important thing that I learnt personally during the project is on how to sustain the project and ensuring the continued impact on society. Taman Bacaan Pelangi has inspired me on how to sustain a community project. The impact on the certain project can take longer to have its impact but I believed, the changes start with “you”

Brunei, March 2019
Syukri Jamil