Mobile library rolls into Indonesia

A makeshift “mobile library” filled with English story books has been presented to a group of Indonesian university students by Charles Darwin University staff.

International Projects and Operations Manager Sally-Anne Hodgetts said the mobile library aimed to enhance teaching and learning activities run by the Indonesian students for disadvantaged youth in Kupang, Indonesia.

Ms Hodgetts said she decided to create the mobile library during the CDU Indonesian In-Country Language Program she attended in Kupang last year as a part of a Diploma in Languages.

During the program, she met students from the University of Nusa Cendana (UNDANA) who complement their English language training by running English teaching activities for children living in impoverished villages.

“What they lack in resources they make up for with enthusiasm,” Ms Hodgetts said.

“The mobile library is essentially a small suitcase on wheels containing children's books and a picnic rug for the children to have somewhere comfortable to sit while learning.”

The university students run the activities as members of UNDANA’s Eastern Indonesian Students for Foreign Relations (“Mahasiswa Indonesia Timur Relasi Asing”) group.

CDU Indonesian Studies lecturer Dr Nathan Franklin delivered the mobile library to the students while visiting Kupang earlier this month.

Dr Franklin said the initiative demonstrated the ongoing people-to-people connections that stemmed from overseas study. The CDU Indonesian In-Country Language programs in Kupang and Lombok will continue this year with funding from the Commonwealth Government’s New Colombo Plan.