Small group PoG
In October 2022, I started developing the Peace Library at Holei Roo Orphanage. Once or twice a week, I do a Read Aloud activity with children aged 3-10 who are not yet in school. Most of them come from conflict areas in Papua. We are grateful because now we have a special room for activities.
After training at Peace Place Pati June 2022, I got new insights about developing a library; it doesn’t have to be a building with lots of books in it. A library is a place where people just read without doing other activities.
We developed a Peace Library in Sentani and several places we’ve visited in Papua. We took books around the community and practiced together. We set up the agenda so we can use our time fairly.
At the beginning of the activity, we pray and then practice stopping, then introductions or opening, agreements to practice, connecting activities, reading stories, trigger questions, refreshment or playing, activities such as journaling, letters and numbers, coloring, recalling and closing.
The children were very happy and excited. Even though they can’t read yet, they listen to new vocabulary and will ask questions if they don’t understand. During the questions after reading the story, they compete to talk about what happened in the story. And they are given the opportunity to speak in turn. Here they learn to be good speakers and listeners, having discussions without fear of being wrong. I feel that this is one way to get children to love reading and be comfortable speaking up.
This is important because many children who can read do not like to read. It doesn’t only happen to children but also to adults.
At Holei Roo, the not yet literate children like to be in the reading room to see what’s in the books. They will ask to read the book and discuss it together.
In July 2022, 6 children and July 2023 5 children from Holei Roo progressed to elementary school. Their first place of study was the peace library in Holei Roo. The Read Aloud program at the Peace Library has had a good impact on the children of the Holei Roo Orphanages.