Help Lulu finish her children's library!
Hello everyone,
My name is Justine and I am from Dijon, France.
Today, I ask you to help my sister Lulu fund a library and women’s association for the children and women of Ebunut in Lombok, Indonesia.
Here is a little bit about my sister:
About five years ago, after studying video editing in Paris, I moved to Lombok to co-direct a documentary about the youth on this small island.
The making of the documentary took 2 and a half years, during which time I not only fell in love with this country and this island, but also with its beautiful people, particularly one incredible person who is now my husband and father of our two wonderful sons. We all live in the small and remote village where my husband was born, Ebunut, on the beautiful coastline of south Lombok.
Throughout the years, I have come to observe and understand the needs and issues that the young generations of Lombok and their mothers face today. I have ultimately come to understand that with an inclusive, collaborative approach and a small budget, we can contribute to the empowerment of the people of Lombok.
As a young woman, a mother, a daughter, and a dreamer, I have decided to take an active part in the life of the community, to help the people of my village and empower children and women to create a better and brighter future.
A little about my project
I focus on two key elements that I truly believe are the key for change :
1. Giving children the education they need and 2. Supporting women to become confident and financially independent.
Over the past year, we have opened a youth center and library in our village that we called PEMUKU. The name is a mix of “pemuda”, youth, and “buku”, books. It stands for Perpustakaan Ebunut Mandalika Untuk Kecerdasan Umum - The Ebunut Mandalika Library for the General Talent. We use the facilities of the old village nursery, that we have been able to renovate with some helpers from the village.
Every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon I spend time with the kids from the village in our library to learn english or just to trigger their opinions and creative skills. Through these new learnings, we wish to open their minds to the world that’s outside of their village, so they can be better prepared for the growing effects (and associated risks and opportunities) of globalization in Lombok.
With 5 very skilful weavers from the village, we have started a Women’s Association. Together we weave traditional yet modern and colourful sarongs that we sell to provide for the youth center. In Lombok, sarongs are hand-woven fabrics that men used to wear traditionally to protect themselves in case of fights. A sarong is like a second skin, made with love by the women closest to them.
We called our brand ninē-ninē, which means ‘women’ in the tribal language of the island, and we intend our sarongs to fit women as well as men.
ninē-ninē allows the women of the village to become financially and emotionally independent, empowering them to create their own designs and become ‘business’ savvy. We value the idea of offering truly traditional sarongs of the best quality and crafted with the deepest care and consideration.
What are the next steps and how you can help
With our first budget we managed to build a place for the kids and buy some books, toys and games. We also bought a stock of threads to weave and kick-started sarong creation with a fair remuneration for the weavers.
But both the library and the Women’s Association are far from finished and we need your help to give it one last push, so that the children and women of Ebunut can enjoy durable, operational, safe and clean facilities, allowing us to enrich the library, extend our programs and have more women entering the Women’s Association.
To fully set up the learning centre and Women’s Association we would need IDR 40 million, which is about 2500 Euros. Although I know this is a lot of money to try and raise, I also know that it would allow the children and the women to fully thrive in the community and have a chance to support themselves in the future. So if you can help us even get close to the target we'd all be forever grateful for your support.
To help understand how the money will be spent, here's a breakdown of the project costs (all services and materials will be sourced within the local community):
Toilets - 125€
Projector + screen - 320€
Electric meter - 100€
Bamboo walls - 150€
2 ceiling fans - 65€
Outside reading areas (2) - 125€
Shelves and boxes - 125€
Books and games - 320€
Return trip to Jakarta to buy books - 160€
Plants and trees - 65€
2 weaving looms - 375€
Building for the association - 320€ (A place for the women to meet, and somewhere to find us and our products. There is a house in the village we would like to get and renovate).
Threads - 125€
Water dispensers for the library and the association - 35€
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And if, by any chance we manage to collect any more money than this, we will get more books from Jakarta and save the rest to organise a week of internship for the kids, most certainly about journalism and photography.
Can't thank you enough for your time and attention,
Lucile, Pemuku and ninē-ninē
