In Indonesia, children swap litter for literacy at travelling eco-library
- Librarian Raden Roro Hendarti collects about 100kg of waste each week, which children bring her in exchange for one of the 6,000 books her library lends out
- She said she wants to ‘build a culture of literacy from young age to mitigate the harm of the online world’ while helping ‘to save the Earth from trash’
Each weekday Raden Roro Hendarti rides her three-wheeler with books stacked up at the back for children in Muntang village to exchange for plastic cups, bags and other waste that she carries back.
Raden collects about 100kg of waste each week, which is then sorted out by her colleagues and sent for recycling or sold. She has a stock of 6,000 books to lend and wants to take the mobile service to neighbouring areas as well.
Kevin Alamsyah, an avid 11-year-old reader, scours for waste lying in his village to exchange for books.
“When there is too much trash, our environment will become dirty and it’s not healthy. That’s why I look for trash to borrow a book,” he said.
Jiah Palupi, the head of the main public library in the area, said Raden’s work complemented their efforts to combat online gaming addiction among the youth and promote reading.
The literacy rate for above-15-year-olds in Indonesia is around 96 per cent, but a September report by the World Bank warned that the pandemic will leave more than 80 per cent of 15-year-olds below the minimum reading proficiency level identified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
