“Amazing, we could see a lot of creative work!
“Inspiring activity. Extraordinary literacy strenthening!
“Exciting festival. Many people came and join us!
“Unique and educative activity. May 3R always be successful
These were some short sentences that I read from the many sheets of sticky notes stuck to the board “Impressions after visiting the Dream Village Library Festival.” These impressions were written by visitors after they finished seeing the Exhibition Room and Performance Stage presented in the festival area.
The 2024 Dream Village Library Festival is one of the routine activities and events that the volunteers of the Youth Volunteer House strive to maximize. The event, which was held on February 23-24 2024, the Aceh Library and Archives Service or better known as the Regional Library, was prepared a month beforehand.
The festival, which was held for two days, showed a variety of extraordinary works by children from several locations at Pustaka Kampung Impian, namely Bah and Seimbang village (Central Aceh Regency), Baling Karang village (Aceh Tamiang Regency), Alue Keujreun village (South Aceh Regency). ), Lapeng village in Pulo Aceh (Aceh Besar Regency) and Lam Lumpu village (Aceh Besar Regency), precisely at the secretariat of the Peace Volunteer House or Rumah Relawan Remaja (3R)
The 2024 Dream Village Library Festival is the 6th festival since the Dream Village Library was held. A similar festival was held in 2018 and 2019 at the Tsunami Museum. Then, in 2020 and 2021 online. Then, it was held offline again in 2023 at the Tsunami Museum.
This festival is part of appreciating the work of children who are active in Pustaka Kampung Impian which has existed since 2016 in the villages mentioned previously. Pustaka Kampung Impian itself is an alternative education program which is equipped with the facilities of a small library with reading books in it. Small library buildings in the form of small halls in several locations were built in mutual cooperation with volunteers and local village communities. The books available are also books purchased using the Teen Volunteer Home’s cash or donations from individuals and communities. Apart from that, in the Dream Village Library program, there are volunteers called Dream Teachers who are assigned to facilitate classes such as Basic Reading, Advanced Reading, Writing, Crafts, Digital Literacy, Photography and Arts.
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Dream Village Library, which has been implemented in several places, is not only a learning space for reading and writing, but also a space of liberation for all involved; for 3R volunteers, children and the community can grow to think critically, work cheerfully and meaningfully, hopefully they can even grow together to understand the social issues that occur in their respective villages. 3R presents all forms of joint learning at Pustaka Kampung Impian through the Pustaka Kampung Impian Festival. 2024 will mark the 6th celebration of the festival with the theme My Village, My School
The sentence above is an opening handwritten using a brush and black paint on a white sketch. The opening text welcomeed visitors to the Dream Village Library Festival when they entered the Exhibition Room. After entering, visitors saw a variety of children’s paintings and writing. There were works that tell stories about villages, the arrival of volunteers in their villages and even abstract works. These works were arranged neatly by a team of volunteers from the decoration department using canvas frames that had been painted in colorful colors. Lighting was also a part that is very important to pay attention to in this section.
Apart from that, visitors can also see several crafts made by children, for example toys from unused wood, turtles from egg boards, ecobricks as a form of responsibility for used plastic, miniature Lapeng villages and miniature of William’s Torrent III Lighthouse on Pulo Breuh.
Documentation of the teaching and learning process activities with volunteers could be seen in several sketches where photographs have been displayed. There were photos showing children studying in the middle of a rice field, someone reading a book on a boat, there is a photo of a volunteer teaching reading using a flashlight because the lights were out at that time, and documentation of volunteers reviewing books. There was also a collection of bulletins containing writings from 3R volunteers. This joint learning process can also be seen in several videos which can be watched on a laptop that has been prepared.
Next, let’s move to the performance stage area. The series of shows was divided into two days. Friday (23/2), Ranup Lampuan Dance, Poetry about Palestine, Likok Pulo Dance, Pantun, Storytelling about the village, Drama “Finish Your Food”, Arabic Ya Tabtab and Penulang Maja Dances were performed by the children. The next day, Saturday (24/2), the children performed Poetry about Books, Top Pade Dance, Beberu Gayo Dance, Children’s Book Review and the Rihon Meulambong Dance.
The performance area was directed by 2 program readers who are also 3R volunteers. One of them is the librarian of the Dream Village Library, Gampong Lam Lumpu, who is currently 13 years old.
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The two days of the Dream Village Library Festival felt short. However, efforts to bring in children from various villages who are very active in participating in various activities with volunteers at Pustaka Kampung Impian in their villages was not easy and took time.
There was a team of volunteers who ensured that children could come to Banda Aceh and practiced regularly in their respective villages. There was also a team of volunteers who put together the event; preparing meal menus for children, village assistants and volunteers; there was a decoration and equipment team who painted the frames up until midnight, there was a publication and documentation team who immortalizes the moment, and there was a team who ensured the guest book and sticky notes contained impressions written by the visitors.
All volunteers with their respective tasks tried their best because the Dream Village Library Festival was not just a festival to show work, but also a festival celebrating equality with several objectives, namely: (1) as a means of developing alternative learning motivation, increasing artistic and cultural creativity in the village -village, (2) socialize the 3R Dream Village Library program to the wider community as a non-formal education program for children who are disaster victims, conflict victims and in remote areas, (3) build networks and relationships with activists arts and culture and humanitarian issues.
Written by Rahmiana Rahman
(Director of Rumah Relawan Remaja)