114 / Jatimulyo, Demak, Central Java
Mrs. Hastutik is working as teacher and library manager at her elementary school since 1999. She has a very determined personality and she is inspired and motivated to develop the literacy culture at the school and in the village. She worked hard to establish a library at the school and managed to get funding to finance a new building for the library in 2010 – now she’s the headmaster.
She opened the school library as public library for the local community. She is very active to get involved in the community activities to deliver her message about spreading the literacy culture. She always chooses the books with the community in her mind and includes books about growing your own food, maintaining gardens, producing traditional cuisine like the jamu juice and many more.
The Jatimulyo village is located 5km from the nearest town and 3km from the beach. Most of the locals there are working as farmers and fishermen.
Villagers who live near the river, are still polluting it by using it as their waste disposal, as place to wash their clothes in and even as toilet. The waste from the river also gets swept into the rice paddy irrigation system.
Together with her teacher colleagues, they attend every community activity such as: posyandu and PKK and bring books from the library to the people to read. The goal is to provide the villagers with the possibility to gain more knowledge about the environment.