Dreams...

The subject of our weekly gathering today was Dreams. What do you dream of being when you grow up? We learned the English words for different careers, and then played an 'adapted' version of charades and acted the different jobs out for the others to guess. What is your dream?? I think it's important to encourage these children and children all over the world to believe that whatever they want to be is possible, despite circumstances of not having enough money to go to college or far from where they already are. Most children in our class today, surprisingly, didn't yet know what they wanted to be. When I was young I remember wanting to be a teacher, and then there was a while when I wanted to be a veterinarian, and then of course an actress... Is this a cultural difference, or was it just the time and the place that they couldn't think of ideas for the future? Or perhaps it's not necessary to think of the future yet, or indeed they don't know yet where they want to go or how they want the future to unfold... but there's always space for dreams..! Who doesn't want to dream? I hope that with time the kids will open up even more to expressing their own wishes and desires, and to believing that the ideas they have are possible.

Taring Padi as a collective also has dreams, one of which we hope will become a reality by mid-August. We plan to build a small playground and community space in front of the library and Taring Padi land, in hopes to draw more children into the library and provide a place for the community to come together. After a meeting today, we drew out a map of the Taring Padi grounds (the open space of which measures about 12 x 12 meters), and discussed what we would like to include in the development of this space. We came up with a list of several possibilities:

-A wooden swing set.
-A bamboo tree-house with a slide going down into a sandbox.
-A small fish pool.
-Several raised gardens throughout the space to grow herbs and vegetables.
-More fruit trees (especially mango, jackfruit and avocado).
-A badminton net and rackets.
-A garbage and recycling system along with a compost for organics. (This and the garden would teach local villagers how to be sustainable and conscious of the environment that they live in).
-A sign in front of Taring Padi to post events, workshops and activities.

We're still in the process of creating the final design, and contemplating where we might also place a parking area for up to 15 motorbikes for larger events. This is all in hopes to create a stronger sense of community, to offer the local villagers a place to come and gather, to learn about sustainable living and get involved in the library. We estimate the price to build everything will come out to about $2,000 USD, and we hope to pull it off by mid-August. One of the main visions of Taring Padi is about supporting the development of a close-knit, sustainable community that is self-sufficient without harming the environment or others, and encourages its children to explore and grow together, to keep learning and believing that with spirit they can be whatever they want to be.

If you're interested to donate to the creation of Taring Padi's playground and community space, please contact me and I will provide you with a Pay Pal account through which money can be transferred directly to Taring Padi. This account is currently in the making, and should be up and running soon! Any donations made will be promptly followed up with updates and specific information on how the money was used and the effect it had on the community. I've included a scanned image of one of the drawings of the tree house and playground in front of the library. More to come...! Thank you!!