Tuesday, June 10, 2008

About the Library






Taring Padi has a new children's library. For those of you who aren't familiar with Taring Padi, you might check out the website in the links I have included at the bottom of this page. The website is, however, slightly out of date, so I'll give you a quick low-down: Taring Padi is an activist art collective located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, that began in 1997 at the eve of President Soeharto's fall in 1998. They were very active in political demonstrations at that time and used their motto 'art for the people' as a way to express social issues concerning corruption, labor rights, farming, women and children's rights, and so on. Ten years later Taring Padi is still active, and following the earthquake that destroyed their space in May 2006, with funding they bought land in Sembungan Village and built their own gallery and children's library. Which is where we find ourselves today, at this moment. The children's library, Omah Buku Taring Padi, is the subject of this blogsite, as a way to communicate the lives of the children and artists involved, and share the experience of bringing books and learning into village life. For the past six months, Julie Little and St. Joseph's School in Seattle, Washington U.S.A., have been sending packages of donated children's books for the children at the library. I hope that this website might serve as a way to communicate and foster understanding beetween the two children's worlds, both in America and Indonesia. This has been a great project, and it's still growing. Every Sunday at the library all the children gather together to learn English, read books and play together. Last Sunday we had a shadow puppetry workshop! The number of children varies, usually from 10-15 children both boys and girls, ages 6-11. Over time with this website, I hope to introduce you to each and every one of them, and their lives here in Indonesia. It's truly a blessing for me to have the opportunity to work with these children; their imaginations are young and bright, they're eager to learn and they love to read! I hope you enjoy this website, and please feel free to contribute comments, ideas, or anything else you would like. Thank you!

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