The Dream Village Library Festival (PKIp) is part of a series of PKIp activities carried out in several villages, one of which is in Bah Village, Central Aceh Regency. This activity is an appreciation for younger people and children while studying with 3R volunteers. This appreciation is shown by exhibiting a variety of children’s works. This work is also not only in the form of writing, pictures and crafts, but several performances, namely drama, serial poetry, “didong” and dance.
At the beginning of the deployment, I and 2 other Dream Teachers in Bah Village had already informed the children about the festival . They felt very enthusiastic and excited during the training session.
In the midst of preparations, we also discussed the location of the festival. Although in previous years the exhibition celebrations were held in the village head’s office and school grounds, the team’s agreement which was of course the result of discussions with the community, this year’s exhibition was packaged in the form of a festival held on a football field.
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The PKIp Festival took place on Saturday, March 26, 2022. The series of activities started at 2 pm with a series of tug of war games. The tug of war between youths, women, mothers, fathers and children was very enthusiastic. Even though there was no rotating trophy contest. Village officials and also the Dream Teacher who hosted the session also created excitement. In addition to tug of war, there was also a ball game which was played boisterously by the children.
All seemed to be dissolved in the PKIp Festival series at noon. Until finally, evening arrived. It’s time for rehearsals for the Children who would perform at the evening activities. There were also younger performers who are ready to be touched up by the volunteers.
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The night of the Festival has arrived. The sparkling stage that the community worked on together was seen against the backdrop of the 2022 PKIp Festival. Moreover, these 3 stages were able to stand firmly with the support of youth and men in the local village, which was directly coordinated by Pak Reje (Village Head). It is this power of togetherness that is contagious and energizes us throughout the whole series of festivals.
The evening event was very lively. The entire community of Bah Village gathered around 20.30. The large courtyard was filled with crowds and smiles from residents who could not wait to see the exhibition of works in the room that had been prepared and various performances that had been prepared to be watched on stage.
After the event was started by 2 presenters who are also younger people who are actively involved in library programs, a series of activities began. The brief remarks from 3R and Pak Reje became a good opening before entering the various extraordinary performances of the younger brothers. Each performance was enlivened by “saweran” local people who took turns going up to the stage to give “saweran” money. This “saweran” money seemed to have been prepared by the community. Moreover, this seems to have become their culture. In addition, of course this is an additional encouragement for the younger people and children who have dared to appear.
For various looks, all went very well. Moreover, many younger people and children actually volunteered to appear when the Dream Teachers started voicing the implementation of this PKIp Festival. Exercise until 10 pm was undertaken in order to produce a maximum appearance. No doubt, their extraordinary performances made us 3R volunteers very touched. Parental support is also one of the determining factors for the success of our activities in Bah Village.
After the entire series of performances, a video of learning activities at Dream Library Village in this village was played. The video, which was more than 25 minutes long, continued to attract people’s attention from beginning to end because it was not only children’s learning activities, but also a series of activities and social conditions of the community. It also illustrated the hospitality of the Bah people who always welcome 3R volunteers like a child who returns to his/her village every time he/she returns to this village.
written by Maghfud
