Progress Report of Children Learning Community on January 2012

Hello my dearest friends

Year 2011 has just passed and we are now entering the year 2012. We praised God for His kindness to allow our social community service continues to run in the Cakung Children Community. We even has started the learning activities in Muara Baru, North Jakarta.

With these two activity groups, we can serve a broader opportunity for the children in humble areas, not limited to Cakung area. Therefore, we decided to change the name of our community to be Children Learning Community, a community who opens opportunities and increase awareness of the young children the importance of keep studying. We hope they will nurture the positive outlook in their life and for the nation. During January 2012, the learning activities run well. The Cakung group started their activities on the 2nd Friday of January while the Muara Baru group started on 2nd Sunday of January.

There were several activities held in this January. We started our activities by organising a picnic event for children and their parents for the Cakung Group in Ragunan Zoo, on Friday, 6th January 2012. Unfortunately, not all children could participate in it as some of them were still on holiday and some of them went to their villages with their parents.

Twenty children and their parents participated in this outings, assisted by one facilitator. Eventhough there were not many children participated, we had fun and enjoyed the time. It felt so good especially after the tiring and depressing time during the eviction a few months ago.

The heavy pouring rains in January forced several families in the area to evacuate, they even had to stay in the Learning Tent for several weeks. Cynthia's family (from Category III group), Umi (Category III group), Lina-Lini (Category I group) had to stay in the Learning House because their rented houses were flooded. In early February, Cynthia's family decided to move to another rental house again, and it is close by to the paddy field and their children school.

Firman's hut was flooded and covered by water due to the heavy rain in January. The rain flowing through the gutter almost swept away the hut. Firman (from Category I group) only live together with his grandma. Their poor condition touches our heart to share. Now, the hut has been moved to an area far from the gutter. The donated fund was used to by some building materials, bamboo and triplex.

On Friday, 20th January 2012, the children received a donation of lunch from Ladies Group from Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, lead by Mrs. Nani. The children thanked and enjoyed the meals before they started studying.

Thank to Mrs Nani and the Ladies Group from Utan Kayu who shares their concern and help.

Toward the end of January 2012, we had another 5 children obtained their birth certificate. Djoyo, Windy, Alfiah, Iqbal and Haidar, they are the last group who registered their birth since October 2011 in the Civil Registry Office.

All the parents are relieved and happy as their children now have a formal documents which may help them to enter school and be accepted as citizens of our beloved country.


Alternative Learning Activities

a. Cakung Children Community

We started the learning activities on 2nd Friday of January 2012 with a few numbers of children. There were only 10 children attended.

Despite of the lack of facilities including the place to learn, the study spirit still endures. Kicking off from 3rd Friday of January to date, we have more children attending the study activities. There are seven new children from nearby area who join us to study, starting from Category 0 until Category II. All together we have 40 children.

Starting from early 2012, we changed the learning material including changing the category group from Category I-IV to be Category 0-III. The young children are grouped in Category 0, while children who knows alphabets and learning to spell are grouped in Category I.

The children who can read and write simple words are grouped in Category II. The children who are fluent in reading and writing are part of Category III. Two children of the Category IV, Indri and Mala, now start to accompany children from Category 0 and I, eventhough they can not do it fully as they are still having other activities at their formal school and are in the last grade of their high school.

The facilitation for Category 0 are done by several volunteers, one of them is the parent of Cakung children who routinely assisting the facilitators.

The children from Category I-III are accompanied by us, the facilitators, including Kak Qori'ah, Kak Uju, Kak Ari, Kak Lestari, Kak Uwie and Kak Debby.

Living Values Activities were introduced in 2012. This activity is inspired from a book titled Living Values: An Educational Program published by Grasindo. This is a reference book written by a non-profit organisation and supported by UNESCO and sponsored by UNICEF.

We found this valuable book is worth to apply for the children and to improve the creativity of all the facilitators.

There are several positive values emphasised in this program, they are peace, respect, love, responsibility, joy, collaboration, honesty, humility, sense of tolerance, simplicity and unity.

For January, we started to introduce PEACE to the children. This activity was held every Saturday, after the studying session.

There are some children stories telling about their experiences living in the new houses. You may find it on the below blog.
http://cakungchildrencommunity.blogspot.com


2. Muara Baru Community

The learning activity was started on the 1st Sunday in January 2012. We encouraged children to read books and to play in the Learning/Activity House. We played scrabble gameboard to learn words. Through this game, we learn Bahasa Indonesia.

There are 20 children who took turn and came to learn reading and to play scrabble.
The full activity was started on the 3rd week of January. After reading books from our library, the children learn Bahasa Indonesia, English and maths.

There are 2-3 facilitators for accommodating the children in this community, one trained facilitator and 1-2 grown up children from Cakung Community (who were in Category IV). This is a good opportunity for regenerating new facilitators.

Finally, we thank all facilitators, children and residents of Cakung. Special thanks to Kak Uju, Kak Qori'ah, Kak Uwie, Kak Ari and Kak Lestari.


Library

We started our library activity on Wednesday, 1st January 2012, a few days prior to the studying activities for Cakung Community. We agreed to run the library program on every Wednesday afternoon, and it agrees to our plan established in December 2011.

The activity was run by our librarian, Mala, with some helps from 3 Cakung children who are in charge for managing some programs. They are also helped by some parents.
The first thing they did was to re-register all the books in Cakung. There are some boxes of books we stored in Muara Baru house of learning.

We bought some new books in January 2012 therefore, we need to re-register all the books. The new books are reference books for facilitators and reading books for children, fiction and non-fiction (general knowledge books).

For the time being, we still store some books in boxes as the cupboard where we used to keep our books are still in Muara Baru and some parts of it are broken. It is not strong enough to hold many things. We are planning to buy bookshelves and to fix the cupboard in February 2012.


Nutrition for Children Activity

In January, the activity to improve children nutrition run well. We provided quite variety of nutritious meals yet simple, including a glass of milk every Saturday before studying then lunch nutritious meal after the study.

On 2nd Saturday of January, we had hard-boiled eggs, on week 3, we had pecel (Indonesian steamed vegetable salad) and on the last week, we had oranges.

The menu was prepared by one of the residents and she prepared it in accordance to the Children Learning Community Program established in December 2011. Cynthia is in charge to in this Nutrition for Children activity and she was helped by another 3 committees in this Children Learning Community.

We thank all of the committees and Indri's mom who had prepared the healthy menu in January. Thanks to Mrs Nani and Ladies Group from Utan Kayu, East Jakarta who had provided lunch as well as Kak Qori'ah who routinely provided vitamins for all children in Cakung.


Scholarship

On Monday, 9 January 2012, most schools started their classes. All the scholarship recipients attended their classes. There were some students live quite far from their school therefore, we supported them with some money for public transport fare.

Indri and Mala, both are in their last grade of high school, are also scholarship recipients. They consistently assist many different studying activities in Cakung. They do it after classes and studying for themselves. Usually, they do their maximum after they complete their study and take a rest.

In this January, there are some routine expenses for all high schools students who are in their last grade. It is their tuition fee, stationery, photo copy costs and internet rental for searching some reference for their school tasks.

For the primary school students, the expenses cover stationery and school necessities such as school bags and shoes.


Our plan for February 2012 are:

1. to purchase bookshelves and some books for the children
2. to fix the cupboard to store studying materials of Cakung Children Community.
3. to purchase children studying necessities, for theoretical and practical general knowledge
4. to buy the necessities for improving children's nutrition.

We finally thank to all friends who support us in prayers, funds, efforts and materials to realise the programs held in Children Learning Community for this month.

We thank for the fundings which help us in running many operational programs in Children Learning Community. Thanks to Mbak Inonk and friends, Mrs Ivana and family, Mrs Rina Anwar, Sr. Annunicata, OSU, Mr. Husin Raharja - Mrs Yuli, Mrs Vina and Mr Arend - Michelle Maramis, Mbak Jenny, Kak Diah Campbell and friends gathered in PIQ (Indonesians Association in Queensland), as well as Children First initiated by Mrs. Ann Djudzman and Gemeente Oostkamp initiated by Mbak Inonk in Belgium.

Special thanks to Sr. Annunciata, OSU for knitting yarn for Cakung children, to Mrs Danik and Mrs Harimurti for the beads, to Kak Anita Linggar and Kak Tonny Tjhai for translating the children stories in the blog.

Again, our sincere thank to all of you. May God bless all of you abundantly and may our collaboration continues.

May God bless us all.


Warmest regards
on behalf of Children Learning Community
Debby

P.S.
You could give donation via bank:
Acc.holder Debby Maitimu or Dwi Resmi Sari
BCA Branch office Matraman, East Jakarta, Indonesia
Acc.no.342-2792161
Swift code : cenaidja
or contact me for material support on +628129685594

Laporan Kegiatan Komunitas Anak Belajar pada Januari 2012

Salam jumpa teman-teman yang baik,

Tak terasa tahun 2011 telah berlalu dan kini telah memasuki tahun 2012. Kami bersyukur karena Tuhan masih berkenan mengijinkan kegiatan pelayanan kemasyarakatan ini berjalan di Komunitas Anak Cakung, bahkan mulai tahun 2012 ini, mulai dijalankan kegiatan belajar di Muara Baru, Jakarta Utara.

Dengan berdirinya dua kegiatan ini, maka semakin luas kesempatan belajar bagi anak-anak pemukiman sederhana yang kami dampingi, tidak hanya di wilayah Cakung saja. Dengan demikian nama kegiatan ini kami ganti menjadi Komunitas Anak Belajar; sebagai komunitas yang membuka kesempatan dan membangun kesadaran anak-anak untuk memahami arti belajar demi kemajuan pengetahuan dan budi pekerti bangsa.

Sepanjang Januari ini, kegiatan belajar Komunitas Anak Belajar dapat berjalan dengan baik. Kegiatan belajar di Komunitas Anak Cakung dimulai pada Jumat II Januari 2012, sedangkan kegiatan belajar di Muara Baru dimulai pada Minggu II Januari 2012.

Ada beberapa kegiatan sepanjang Januari ini. Kegiatan diawali dengan piknik bersama beberapa anak dan orang tua Cakung di Kebun Binatang Ragunan pada hari Jumat, 6 Januari 2012. Kegiatan tidak dapat diikuti oleh seluruh anak karena masih dalam suasana libur dan beberapa dari mereka ikut orang tua pulang kampong.

Kegiatan ini diikuti oleh 20 anak dan orang tua didampingi oleh 1 fasilitator. Sekalipun hanya sedikit anak yang bisa ikut, namun tidak menyurutkan keceriaan & kebahagiaan anak-anak dan orang tua, setelah lelah hati dan pikiran menghadapi penggusuran yang baru beberapa bulan berlalu.

Hujan yang turun deras selama bulan Januari ini membuat beberapa warga harus mengungsi, bahkan tinggal selama beberapa minggu di tenda belajar. Keluarga Cynthia (anak kategori III), Umi (anak kategori III), Lina-Lini (anak kategori I) terpaksa harus menetap sementara di rumah belajar karena rumah kontrakannya kebanjiran. Hingga awal Februari, keluarga Cynthia memutuskan untuk pindah ke tempat kontrakan lain, yang lebih dekat dengan sawah dan sekolah anak-anaknya.

Gubuk Firman terendam air sejak hujan deras awal Januari ini, bahkan hampir hanyut dibawa derasnya air got di samping gubuknya. Firman (anak kategori I) hanya tinggal berdua dengan neneknya. Ketiadaan biaya mengetuk hati kami untuk berbagi. Kini gubuknya pindah ke tempat yang agak jauh dari aliran air got. Bantuan biaya digunakan untuk membeli bahan bangunan, bamboo dan tripleks.

Pada Jumat, 20 Januari 2012, anak-anak mendapatkan bantuan konsumsi siang dari kelompok Ibu-ibu wilayah Utan Kayu, Jakarta Timur, yang dipimpin oleh Bu Nani. Anak-anak senang menikmati konsumsi siang, sebelum mulai kegiatan belajar.
Terimakasih banyak pada Bu Nani dan kelompok Ibu-Ibu wilayah Utan Kayu, yang berkenan memberi perhatian dan bantuan.

Pada akhir Januari 2012, menyusul 5 anak yang bisa memperoleh akte kelahiran. Djoyo, Windy, Alfiah, Iqbal, dan Haidar merupakan kelompok terakhir sejak Oktober kami mulai kegiatan pengurusan akte kelahiran.

Para orang tua gembira dan lega, anak-anaknya mendapatkan surat resmi untuk memudahkan mereka kelak masuk sekolah dan diterima sebagai warga Negara bangsa tercinta.


Kegiatan Belajar Alternatif

1. Komunitas Anak Cakung

Kegiatan belajar dimulai pada Jumat II Januari 2012. Awalnya memang masih sedikit anak yang belajar. Hanya sekitar 10 anak yang hadir.

Walaupun tempat belajar, tidak seperti dahulu, namun tidak menyurutkan niat anak-anak untuk terus belajar. Sejak Jumat III Januari 2012 hingga sekarang, makin bertambah banyak anak yang terlibat. Ada 7 anak baru dari lingkungan sekitar yang ikut belajar, mulai dari kategori 0 hingga kategori II. Jumlah peserta belajar kini mencapai 40 anak.

Mulai awal 2012 ini pun, perubahan materi kami lakukan, dari kategori I – IV berubah menjadi kategori 0 – III. Anak-anak usia dini yang terlibat bersama kami, kami kelompokkan dalam kategori 0, sedangkan anak-anak yang sudah mengenal abjad dan masih belajar mengeja, kami kelompokkan dalam kategori I.

Anak-anak yang sudah bisa membaca sederhana dan menulis, kami kelompokkan dalam kategori II, sedangkan anak-anak yang sudah lancar membaca dan menulis, kami kelompokkan dalam kategori III.

Dua anak kategori IV, Indri dan Mala, mulai merintis kemampuannya untuk mendampingi anak-anak kategori 0 dan I, walau tidak bisa penuh mendampingi karena masih ada kegiatan di sekolahnya menjelang akhir pendidikannya di SMK.

Pendampingan anak kategori 0 didampingi oleh beberapa volunteer, salah satunya dari orang tua anak Cakung, yang rutin ikut serta bersama fasilitator.

Sementara anak-anak kategori I – III didampingi oleh kami, para fasilitator, seperti Kak Qori’ah, Kak Uju, Kak Ari, Kak Lestari, Kak Uwie, dan Kak Debby.

Kegiatan pendidikan nilai (Living Values Activities), mulai kami terapkan di 2012 ini. Kegiatan yang kami serap dari buku Living Values : An Educational Program terbitan Grasindo ini merupakan buku pegangan yang ditulis oleh sebuah kelompok nirlaba yang didukung oleh UNESCO dan disponsori oleh UNICEF.

Buku berharga yang kami temukan di toko buku Gramedia ini, kami anggap layak untuk diterapkan bagi anak-anak di Komunitas Anak Belajar, dengan kreatifitas para pendamping yang bertugas.

Kegiatan pendidikan nilai terdiri dari nilai-nilai kedamaian, penghargaan, cinta, tanggung jawab, kebahagiaan, kerjasama, kejujuran, kerendahan hati, toleransi, kesederhanaan, dan persatuan.

Sepanjang Januari ini, nilai kedamaian kami terapkan bagi anak-anak. Kegiatan berlangsung setiap Sabtu, selesai kegiatan belajar.

Ada beberapa tulisan anak tentang pengalaman tinggal di tempat baru, ditulis anak-anak di blog Komunitas Anak Cakung. Teman-teman bisa membacanya di :

http://cakungchildrencommunity.blogspot.com

2. Komunitas Muara Baru

Kegiatan belajar dimulai pada minggu I Januari 2012. Kegiatan awal kami lakukan dengan mengajak anak-anak untuk membaca buku dan bermain di rumah kegiatan.

Kegiatan bermain scrabble merupakan kegiatan baru bagi anak-anak Muara Baru. Mereka senang bermain dengan menyusun kata.
Lewat bermain scrabble, kami belajar Bahasa Indonesia.

Ada sekitar 20 anak bergantian datang dan pergi untuk membaca dan bermain scrabble.
Kegiatan belajar penuh kami lakukan pada minggu III Januari 2012. Setelah membaca buku perpustakaan, anak-anak belajar Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Inggris, dan Matematika.

Kegiatan pendampingan ini dilakukan oleh 2 hingga 3 fasilitator, yang terdiri dari seorang fasilitator dan 1 – 2 anak Cakung (yang dulu masuk dalam kategori IV). Kegiatan ini sekaligus menjadi tempat pelatihan anak Cakung belajar mendampingi adik-adik di Muara Baru.

Akhirnya kami ucapkan terimakasih banyak atas kerjasama para fasilitator, anak-anak dan warga Cakung.

Terimakasih banyak pada Kak Uju, Kak Qori’ah, Kak Uwie, Kak Ari, dan Kak Lestari.


Perpustakaan

Kegiatan dimulai sejak Rabu I Januari 2012, bebeerapa hari sebelum dimulainya kegiatan belajar 2012 di Cakung. Kegiatan perpustakaan disepakati untuk dilakukan setiap Rabu siang. Kegiatan rutin yang dijadwalkan seminggu sekali ini, berdasarkan program kegiatan yang sudah disusun pengurus program, sejak Desember 2011.

Kegiatan dilakukan oleh pengurus perpustakaan, Mala, dibantu oleh 3 anak Cakung, yang merupakan anak-anak pengurus program, juga oleh beberapa orang tua.

Kegiatan awal dengan melakukan registrasi ulang dari seluruh buku-buku perpustakaan yang ada di Cakung. Beberapa kardus buku bacaan kami tempatkan di rumah kegiatan Muara Baru.

Pembelian buku baru di bulan Januari 2012 menjadi kegiatan registrasi awal perpustakaan 2012. Buku-buku baru yang kami beli terdiri dari buku-buku referensi bagi para fasilitator dan buku-buku bacaan anak, baik fiksi maupun non-fiksi (buku-buku pengetahuan umum).

Sementara ini, sebagian besar buku masih ditempatkan dalam kardus, karena sebagian lemari, kami tempatkan di rumah kegiatan Muara Baru dan sebagian lagi rusak, karena tidak kuat menampung banyak barang. Pembelian lemari buku dan perbaikan lemari belajar akan kami lakukan pada bulan Februari 2012.


Kegiatan Peningkatan Gizi Anak

Selama Januari 2012 ini, kegiatan peningkatan gizi anak berlangsung dengan baik. Menu sehat cukup bervariasi, walau sederhana. Kegiatan rutin minum susu dilakukan setiap Sabtu sebelum mulai belajar, kemudian makanan menu sehat dilakukan setelah selesai kegiatan belajar.

Pada Sabtu II Januari 2012, menu sehat yang disediakan adalah telur rebus, sedangkan menu sehat minggu III adalah pecel. Menu sehat pada minggu terakhir Januari adalah jeruk.

Menu sehat dipersiapkan oleh salah satu warga di rumahnya selama sebulan, berdasarkan jadwal dan kesepakatan bersama dalam Program Komunitas Anak Belajar yang disusun anak-anak pada Desember 2011 lalu. Koordinator anak dalam kegiatan peningkatan gizi anak adalah Cynthia, yang biasa dibantu oleh 3 anak pengurus program Komunitas Anak Belajar.

Akhirnya, kami berterimakasih pada tim pengurus program dan Mama Indri, yang telah membantu penyediaan menu sehat selama bulan Januari. Terimakasih kami pada Bu Nani dan kelompok Ibu wilayah Utan Kayu, Jakarta Timur yang telah menyediakan konsumsi siang serta Kak Qori’ah yang rutin menyediakan vitamin bagi anak-anak Cakung.


Rencana kegiatan di bulan Februari 2012 ini adalah :

1. Pembelian lemari perpustakaan dan buku-buku bacaan anak.
2. Perbaikan lemari belajar untuk menyimpan barang-barang kegiatan belajar Komunitas Anak Cakung.
3. Pembelian kebutuhan belajar anak, baik kebutuhan kegiatan pengetahuan teoritis maupun praktis.
4. Pembelian kebutuhan peningkatan gizi anak.

Terimakasih banyak atas bantuan dana yang amat sangat mendukung terselenggaranya operasional program Komunitas Anak Belajar. Terimakasih kami untuk Mbak Inonk dan teman-teman, serta Children First atas inisiatif Bu Ann Djudzman dan Gemeente Oostkamp atas inisiatif Mbak Inonk di Belgia.

Terimakasih kami untuk Sr.Annunciata, OSU atas bantuan benang rajut bagi anak-anak Cakung, manik-manik dari Bu Danik dan Bu Harimurti.

Terimakasih banyak. Kiranya Tuhan berkenan memberi berkat limpah bagi teman-teman dan semoga kerjasama kita yang telah terjalin selama ini dapat terus berlanjut.

Tuhan memberkati kita semua.


Salam hangat,
Atas nama anak-anak Komunitas Anak Belajar

Debby


P.S.
You could give donation via bank:
Acc.holder Debby Maitimu or Dwi Resmi Sari
BCA Branch office Matraman, East Jakarta, Indonesia
Acc.no.342-2792161
Swift code : cenaidja
or contact me for material support on +628129685594

At the New House

By Cynthia

I live at a rented house since Monday, 21st November 2011. The house is large, comfortable, and warm, but we can not watch the TV longer and cook rice with the rice cooker.

Because we live together with other neighbours, the power supply must be evenly distributed and cannot be simultaneously used in excess.

Our neighbours are kind and friendly. I have not got new friends there yet. My younger sister has already got several new friends. Their names are Putri, Siti, Uznul and Ugi. Near the new house, there are many little shops. My younger brother, Gio, always asks to buy things from those shops.

In the morning, my father goes to work by cycling, searching for garbage that are still saleable.
My mother goes to her workplace on foot. I also go to school. My neighbours look after my siblings.

At the new house, in rainy season, our house is flooded, so we all can’t sleep at night. I am annoyed, because of the flood, I can not sleep, and the house becomes smelly.

It has been raining since Tuesday, 10th January 2012. My whole family evacuated to the study tent. The blue tent where we are studying is very large, so we can use it as a shelter and live temporarily there.

I sleep on the bench with my family. We cook with the wood fire. After I school, I go to the blue tent straight away. I change clothes and have my lunch. Afterwards, I usually play with Intan. Her mum and dad are still living at the previous place, even after the house was bulldozed. Thankfully, we can still grow our plants there. Intan is always there after she returns from school.

Now my new house is the study tent, close to the old house which has become ruins.

Translated by Tonny Tjhai

Di Rumah Baru

Karya Cynthia

Saya tinggal di rumah kontrakan sejak hari Senin, tgl. 21 November 2011. Rumah disana cukup luas, nyaman, dan hangat, tapi kami tidak bisa nonton TV lebih lama dan masak nasi di rice cooker. Karena kami tinggal bersama dengan tetangga kontrakan lain maka aliran listrik mesti dibagi dan tidak bisa pakai lebih (melebihi kapasitas – red.) bersamaan.

Tetangga kami baik dan ramah. Saya belum punya teman baru disana. Adik saya sudah punya beberapa teman baru, namanya Putri, Siti, Uznul, dan Ugi. Di daerah rumah baru, banyak warung. Adik saya, Gio, suka minta jajan terus.

Pada pagi hari, Bapak saya berangkat kerja naik sepeda, cari rongsokan (sebagai pemulung, cari barang rongsokan – red.). Ibu saya jalan kaki ke tempat kerjanya. Saya juga berangkat sekolah. Tetangga-tetangga saya menjaga adik-adik saya.

Di rumah baru, saat musim hujan, kami kebanjiran, sehingga kami tidak bisa tidur malam. Saya kesal karena banjir, saya tidak bisa tidur, apalagi rumah jadi bau.

Sejak turun hujan terus, dari hari Selasa, 10 Januari 2012, kami sekeluarga mengungsi di tenda belajar. Tenda biru tempat kami belajar besar sekali, jadi kami bisa berteduh dan tinggal sementara disana.

Saya tidur di bale bersama keluarga, kami masak dengan kayu bakar. Pulang sekolah saya langsung ke tenda biru. Saya ganti pakaian dan makan. Setelah itu, biasanya saya bermain-main dengan Intan. Bapak Ibu Intan masih di tempat lama, walau rumahnya sudah dirobohkan, tapi kami masih berkebun disana. Intan selalu ada disana sepulang sekolah.

Sekarang rumah baru saya adalah tenda belajar, dekat dengan rumah lama saya yang sudah jadi puing.

School Holiday

By Dicky

On 24th December 2011 (Christmas Eve), my school starts the holiday. My older brother invites me to go to Cibodas Botanical Garden in Puncak. We departed at 10 am, by motorcycle.

On the way, we got wet because of the rain and trapped in traffic jam. I feel tired. Finally we got off from the motorcycle and stopped by a little food shop. We had chicken noodle. I bought chiki. After that, we continued our journey.

My clothes are still wet. I fell asleep. When I woke up, I just realize that we have arrived at Cibodas Botanical Garden .

We walk around and went towards the waterfall. The air is cool there and the view is so beautiful. There are many people selling food, clothes and other stuff. I bought some souvenirs there.

We went home in the afternoon. On our way home, again we trapped in traffic jam. We dropped in at Indomart. My brother bought us some traditional drink and chiki for me.

After the road which was choc-a-bloc with vehicles starts easing, we can continue our journey smoothly. On the way, I soundly fell asleep and only woke up, as we got home.

Translated by Tonny Tjhai

Libur Sekolah

Karya Dicky

Pada tgl.24 Desember 2011, sekolah saya mulai libur. Kakak saya mengajak saya untuk berlibur di kebun raya Cibodas, Puncak. Kami berangkat pukul 10 pagi, naik motor.
Di jalan, kami kehujanan dan terjebak macet. Saya merasa capek. Akhirnya kami turun dari motor dan mampir di warung. Kami makan mie ayam. Saya beli chiki (snack gurih – red.). Habis makan, kami lanjutkan perjalanan.

Baju saya masih basah kuyup. Saya tertidur. Saat saya bangun, saya baru sadar kalau kami sudah sampai di kebun raya Cibodas.

Kami berjalan-jalan menuju air terjun. Disana udaranya sejuk dan pemandangannya indah sekali. Ada banyak orang yang berjualan makanan, pakaian, dan lain-lain. Saya beli oleh-oleh disana.

Sore hari kami pulang. Di jalan, kami terjebak macet kembali. Kami mampir di Indomart. Kakak saya membelikan kami jamu tolak angin dan chiki untuk saya. Setelah jalan yang dipenuhi kendaraan sudah mulai lowong, kami berjalan dengan lancar. Dalam perjalanan pulang, saya tertidur lelap dan tersadar ketika sudah sampai di rumah.

My New House

by Tia

On Tuesday, 22 November 2011, my family and I moved to a new house as our house was demolished. Our new house is quite big and nice. It is not too far from my old house. There is a fish pond inside the house and the fish are quite big.

When we entered the house for the first time, we found the house was quite dirty and dusty. My mom immediately grabbed a broom and started to sweep the floor. After that, I helped mom to arrange our belongings in the new house. My mom put the television in the lounge. After we arranged the furniture, I took a break and fell asleep. In the late afternoon, mom woke me up. She asked me to wash the dishes. After washing the dishes, I took a bath. After that, I went to learn praying with my sister. After praying, I studied and then watched television.

I like to live in the new house as it is quite comfortable and spacious. I did not realise that we only have been living here for more than a month now. It seems, we've been here for years.

Translated by Anita Linggar

Rumah Baruku

Karya Tia

Pada hari Selasa, 22 November 2011, saya dan keluarga pindah ke rumah baru karena rumah saya digusur. Rumah baru saya luas dan bagus. Rumah baru saya dekat dengan rumah lama saya. Di dalam rumah baru saya ada kolam ikan. Ikan di dalamnya besar-besar.

Ketika pertama kali masuk ke rumah baru, rumahnya sangat kotor dan banyak debu. Ibu saya langsung mengambil sapu dan mulai menyapu. Setelah itu saya membantu Ibu membereskan barang-barang ke dalam rumah baru. Ibu saya meletakkan TV di ruang tamu. Setelah barang-barang ditata dengan rapi, saya beristirahat hingga tertidur. Sore hari, Ibu membangunkan saya. Ibu meminta saya untuk mencuci piring. Selesai mencuci piring, saya mandi. Selesai mandi, saya pergi mengaji bersama adik saya. Pulang mengaji, saya belajar, setelah itu menonton TV.

Saya senang tinggal di rumah baru karena rumahnya nyaman dan luas. Tak terasa sudah 1 bulan lebih saya tinggal di rumah baru, rasanya seperti sudah bertahun-tahun tinggal disana.

Moving To a New House

by Intan

When we moved into a new house, I felt sad as we had to leave our house near rice field. In the new house, initially I did not go out to play as I had not known anyone yet. But, I now have new friends, they are Diah and Devka. Diah is a kind-hearted girl and Delva, her brother is quite naughty.

I live together with my family, grandma and grandpa. Our new house is quite big. It is close to Masri'ah's house.

On school days, I usually go to the rice field straight after school instead of going to home. I helped my mom in the field. I used to play with my brother only, but now, I can play together with Cynthia, Umi, Lina-Lini and Gio. We like to play cooking, hunting for cherries (we eat them up) and noni fruit. We use the noni fruit as material in cooking play.

In the afternoon, I watch television with my brother, grandma and mom. I usually take a bath in the rice field before heading home. During school holiday this time, I spent most of my time to play in the rice field.

The point of my story is that eventhough I have moved house, it does not mean I could not play in the rice field anymore. I even have more opportunities to spend my time in the rice field.

Translated by Anita Linggar

Pengalaman Pindah ke Rumah Baru

Karya Intan

Pada saat pindah ke rumah baru, saya merasa sedih, karena harus pergi dari sawah. Di rumah baru, saya tidak pernah main dengan teman-teman lain karena saya belum kenal. Tapi kini saya sudah punya teman baru, namanya Diah dan Delva. Diah baik hati, sedangkan Delva, kakaknya bandel.

Saya tinggal bersama keluarga dan Nenek Kakek. Rumah baru saya besar. Rumah saya dekat dengan rumah Masri’ah.

Saat hari sekolah, saya biasanya pulang sekolah tidak pulang ke rumah, melainkan ke sawah, ikut Mama saya berkebun. Saya bermain-main di sawah bersama adik, tapi kini saya bisa bermain-main Cynthia, Umi, Lina-Lini, dan Gio. Kami biasa bermain masak-masakan, cari buah ceri, untuk dimakan, dan buah mengkudu untuk mainan. Sore hari baru saya pulang ke rumah baru bersama Ibu dan adik.

Sore hari, biasanya saya nonton TV bersama adik, Nenek, dan Ibu saya. Saya biasanya mandi dulu di sawah, baru pulang ke rumah baru. Libur sekolah kali ini, saya habiskan waktu untuk bermain di sawah.

Walau sudah pindah ke rumah baru, bukan berarti saya tidak bisa main ke sawah, bahkan waktu saya justru lebih banyak saya habiskan di sawah.