Master Cheng Yen said, “To give is better than to receive.” Following the Book Drive in Tzu Chi School last month, our Secondary Student Council members handed the 600 books to Sekolah Cinta Kasih Cengkareng on October 22, 2019.

The delegation from Tzu Chi School were Angela Salim (12R), Chia Ling Fan (11J), Jeanielyn Hartono (11R), and Michael Denise (10G), accompanied by Ms Grace Han and Ms Amalia. Ms Umi As’adah, S.IP, the librarian at Sekolah Cinta Kasih Cengkareng welcomed our students with a very warm smile. Anyone could see the happiness in her eyes when she saw the books.

‘I am very happy, the happiest I could be. It never crossed my mind that children at Tzu Chi School really care about us in Cinta Kasih. For us, books are considered a luxury item, especially English books.’

From the two-days book drive, Tzu Chi School managed to collect 600 books to be given to Sekolah Cinta Kasih. Ms As’adah added, ‘This is so heartwarming. 600 books is wow for me, those books will be very useful for our kids. At school, we have a programme for secondary students to read one english book at the beginning of term to improve their grades. By getting themselves used to at reading other languages, they’ll enrich their vocabulary.’

Michael Denise (10G), agreed that giving out these books is something we should do more often, ‘I think it will be tremendously helpful if we can do this more, as you may give them (Cinta Kasih’s students - ed) a wider learning approach and knowledge that they can obtain from reading books.’

Reading books are considered old-school but it’s something easily done to take you places, ‘With books, we’ll be able to see different parts of the world without traveling anywhere, or spending money on expensive transportation,’ Michael added.

Why children need to read?

Both Ms As’adah and Michael highlighted the importance of reading books and encouraged people, especially students, to read books. Michael said, ‘Please do take time to read books, no matter what, reading will always benefit you in the long term.’

Ms As’adah beautifully quoted Moehammad Hatta, ‘Whatever you need to know, from general knowledge to arts and crafts, you can get it from books. Bung Hatta once said, “I am willing to go to jail as long as I'm with a book, because with books, I feel free.”’