Help Promote Good Reading Habits in Kalimantan

Ever since the haze disaster in 2015, YUM has run several activities to prevent and counteract its adverse effects on the community. One of them is YUM's Fire & Haze Prevention campaign, which takes place either in the library room or schools in the area. By imparting good and healthy living habits to the children, we hope that they could be the first prevention factor related to the bush-fires.

The activities began from an explanation about the cause of fire and proceeded to steps taken for the prevention of Haze.  A short video played to provide information on how the fire had started and produced the haze. During the activity, the children, accompanied by staff at YUM, were divided into groups and given tools such as paper, stationery and colorful pencils to create posters for the campaign. They were also allowed to take these posters home or school. Students of 4th to 6th grade from one of the schools, SDN 3, Tangkiling, were invited to the library to be part of this campaign. Their activities were similar to the library member and at the end of activity everyone was offered a  free glass of milk.

For the last three years, there were almost no forest fires or haze in the area. Unfortunately, this year, due to a very long dry season and a still prevalent slash-and-burn activity among big plantations and local farmers, the fires started to create hazardous smoke and haze around the villages in Central Kalimantan. Because of bad air quality, many people began to suffer from respiratory problems. YUM will continue our commitment to assist our communities by providing essential items such as medicines, N 95 masks, oxygen and milk in order to reduce risks to their health due to the haze.

Thank you for your kind attention to YUM’s projects. 

The renovation of our Community Library in Kalimantan is finally done! 

All of the furniture, books, materials and tools have now been put back in their places. What took more time was re-organizing the books according to each theme. The community library has more than 5,000 books, 200 magazines, 400 children’s movies and almost 100 different kinds of educational toys.

We set the Re-opening of YUM’s Library on the same date as our annual Creativity Day. “I have a dream” was the chosen theme for this Creativity Day event. We want to encourage the children to dare to dream big and pursue them bravely. We also want to emphasize the importance of completing their basic education.  Many children in Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan do not have the opportunity to finish their education due to a lack of parental support, both financially and mentally. Early age marriages, the need to find a job to support their families and stunting issues are just a few of the problems that hold these kids back from finishing their education.

There were several creative and fun games and competitions held before the day of the reopening: coloring, drawing, storytelling, hula hoop and making a speech in English . The day of the reopening was marked by a ribbon cutting session by the representative of Linklaters, the generous donor who has given their full support toward the renovation. During the Creativity Day event, the children from the dance club performed “Karami Anak Luwu Ewu” and the children from the English club sang “I have a dream”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Laskar Pelangi”. Finally, came the children’s most favorite session: the announcement of the winners and the reward distribution. Around 400 children were at the event and they enjoyed every moment!

“On behalf of my school, I would like to thank YUM for inviting us to take part in this competition. All of our students are very happy with this event.  Our students won the 2nd prize in the coloring competition” Miss Fitriana, Tangkiling School principal.

“During YUM’s Creativity Day, I participated in the coloring competition but unfortunately I did not win. But I did win the second position for Hula Hoop competition. I came here with my friends from school. We enjoy all of the activities very much and cannot wait to visit the library after school. Thank you YUM and all of the donors for your kind support.” Riandra,  1st grade student.