Never having been to Makassar or to the island of Sulawesi for that matter, I really didn’t know what to expect. Besides touring some of the traditional sites of this island, I decided to also stop in and visit the main Cintabaca library on my last day. Here are a few impressions from a foreign traveler:
First of all, the whole setup of the library is very welcoming, from its wide open front, to the kid friendly paintings on the walls and the welcoming staff (Agus & Melsy). Located in a rather busy part of town, Pak Agus (the Regional Manager), told me how things get extremely busy when the soccer games at the stadium at the end of the street let out. It was around 1 in the afternoon when I visited the library, usually a rather quiet time at libraries in my home town, but here there were a number of kids hanging out in the back room reading books. I had brought a book or two from my home town as a gift to leave behind and while it was in English this kids just ate them up and wanted me to read & translate them).
On the second floor there was a wide open space where they run different classes such as informal English classes and some after school programs. There is plenty of space here to also someday put a Computer Training Center like the one in Bogor or the one recently opened in Medan. After all my travels it was good to sit down in the Air Conditioned office of Pak Agus to hear his vision for the future. The furniture in the office was all donated and very simple, and as I looked around I could see that there was plenty of room for additional staff and for growth Pak Agus had envision. Pak Agus had given up a promising career in a large business for this kind of work, and as he showed me his spreadsheets and documents I knew that this man could easily return to the corporate world if he wanted, but something inside was keeping him here.
In just one year Pak Agus and his staff have managed to open two city libraries, one village library and 6 reading posts from which they are running some 7 Family Reading Clubs (FRC).
That afternoon, I left my few books with Agus & Melsy and headed for the airport. I wish I could have done more to help them or just hung around longer, but my plane was waiting. Maybe someday I could return or perhaps just help from a far to see them realize some of there dreams.
