San Francisco Theological Seminary students Ray Maleke and Elizabeth Campbell are collecting books this holiday season to help grow a student library in an Indonesian village where Maleke grew up.

Maleke’s involvement with Forum Peduli Pendidikan Toulour (Toulour’s Forum of Educational Concern) began in 2003 before his arrival at SFTS three years ago. The organization’s goals include keeping children of the village in school, re-schooling dropouts, helping students move on to higher education, conducting a tutoring program, and providing English and computer courses for free. Forum for Educational Concern is also committed to cultural preservation and advocating for children’s rights.

“The children have been eager and faithful in studying, playing, and dreaming about the future,” Maleke said. “Some of the instructors were actually participants when we started this effort in 2003. A library will make them very happy.”

The center’s small library is called “Kebun Buku” (which literally means Garden of Books) and mostly consists of magazines and textbooks. Publications are stacked on the floor because there are no book racks yet.

“When I was visited Toulour two summers ago, I was astonished by the children and my immediate friendship with them, or rather how they befriended me,” Campbell said. “They are wonderful kids, and it would be beautiful to add more books to their library. Thanks for considering participating in this vision and learning more about the children in Toulour.”

Maleke and Campbell are collecting new and used children's books to help village children see the world, instill motivation to learn, grow their imaginations and learn English. Gifts will be acknowledged with a Gift for a Future certificate that will hang in the library, where donors’ names will be written and remembered in the village.

There is a drop-off area on the SFTS San Anselmo campus in the Student Lounge in Scott Hall. Books will be collected and sorted before being sent to Indonesia in April 2011.  

For further information about the book drive, contact Maleke at ray_maleke@yahoo.com.