Everybody Can be a Tutor in Reading House

That afternoon, the Reading House looks crowded. Children start arriving at the Reading House or Rumah Baca in the local language. Naomi is one of the attendants. She is a member of the Child Forum in one of the assisted areas of the Biak Program Area. Despite being a teenager, Naomi is a reading tutor for the children in her neighborhood. She has also attended training together with other tutors for the Reading House.

“I am happy to participate in the training because I was trained how to help my younger siblings read,” she said.

Currently, Naomi is still actively helping tutors in her village assist with activities at the Reading House.

Another tutor figure is Mama Lowise. Mama Lowise is one of the tutors at the Reading House in Naomi's village. She is very active in assisting the children in their activities in the Reading House.

“The training made me understand more about how to help children to read through fun activities. The Reading House module helped us because the content of the module was complete. It started from planning, choice of activities, and teaching aids,” she said.

Seper is another teenager like Naomi. He is also involved in the training of Reading House tutors. Seper feels happy because now his job is not only to take his sister to the Reading House but also to become a tutor.

“Before this, I was shy. I did not know how to help my younger siblings learn to read, so I only helped my mom to take and pick up my younger sister to go to the Reading House. After attending the training, I knew how to assist these brothers and sisters. After picking up the younger siblings to come to the Reading House, I will help the other tutors to accompany the younger children to learn and read,” he said proudly.

This Reading House in Biak is one of the results of Wahana Visi Indonesia's program which is fully supported by Target Cooperation. The result of this assistance is a library and a place for children to do positive activities. Through the Reading House, Biak children can have access to infrastructure for learning and positive activities.

Written by Eunice Sumei, ADP Manager Wahana Visi Indonesia at Biak operational office