Quality Education for Children in Indonesia

Dear Friend,

Do you know that the YUM Community Library in Cipanas is one of our earliest educational projects. Initially, the library building served as a study space for children living in our orphanage. At that time, the shelves were stocked with only a few books, and the main activity in the building was after-school tutoring, led by the older children and the YUM staff.

Over the years, the building has transformed into a full-fledged library. Today, it houses close to 8,000 books on various topics, and it is accessible to both children and adults. Library members can participate in a range of educational and creative activities every day after school.

According to our records, last year nearly 400 children from underprivileged families in the area benefited from quality reading materials and engaged in various activities at the library. Besides those who come to the library to read, we also have children coming on a weekly basis for the following activities:

• 25 children learned English through songs, word arrangements, dictionary searches, and other engaging methods.
• Over 25 children enjoyed scientific experiments in the Science Club. The children learned how a bow and arrow work, created lava lamps, walking water and explored volcano eruptions.
• 15 children learned to use computers for the first time, starting with basic tasks like turning the computer on and off and typing simple paragraphs.
• 20 children learned local dances, such as Sampur Asun ("Grateful") and the Welcome Dance, which they performed to greet guests.
• Around 30 children participated in arts and crafts activities, including drawing and coloring, after their tutoring sessions at the library.

Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to purchase reading materials, support tools and equipment, and hire tutors to lead the activities mentioned above. It has been a wonderful year for our library members, and we sincerely thank you for making it possible.

We are excited to share even more activities in the library with you in the future!

On their website, the Child Development Institute wrote that a parent’s role in a child's development is to provide encouragement, support and access to activities that enable children to master key developmental tasks. Furthermore, the article emphasizes that a parent is their child’s first teacher and should remain the best teacher throughout their life.*

We 100% agree with this statement and realize that, in reality, it is not easy to do so. In Cipanas, West Java, where the YUM Early Childhood Learning Centre is located, most of the parents of our preschoolers are young. They are in their early twenties, often with  their latest education background being primary education. 80% of mothers are stay at home parents, which actually gives them plenty of time to take care of and interact with their children. 

Based on the circumstances above, we noticed the urgency to run Parenting sessions.  This year, the sessions have been run four times with a total of 130 participants.  20 of the participants were the parents from other preschools nearby. After several years of running the parenting sessions, which is generally only for YUM preschool parents, we expanded the program to reach more participants. The sessions focused on a variety of themes such as: nutritious food, golden age, providing a safe environment, and building positive characters for the children at early ages. Beside Mr. Samsul, YUM’s Project Manager in CIpanas, who has lots of experience speaking about child development, we also had Mrs. Agnes as a speaker who is the nutritionist for the community health center nearby. Each session ended with a question and answer session. The participants also took this opportunity to share other struggles that they face in their parenting journeys.

Let us hear what Mrs. Sri, mother of SK, 4 years old, YUM preschooler, said about her experience enrolling in the parenting session:

“This is actually my first parenting session and I learned a lot today. At the end of today’s session, I realized that raising a child is not only about their academic performance but also many other things such as their food, motor skills and others. I’m very grateful to YUM for this new knowledge.”

https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/#:~:text=Child%20Development,-As%20children%20develop&text=The%20proper%20role%20of%20the,their%20best%20teacher%20throughout%20life, access October 21, 2024