Warastuti Any Anggorowati, Fostering Literacy at Jelita

If you don't read, you don't exist. This is Warastuti Any Anggorowati’s motto in continuing her fight to improve literacy.

KOMPAS/WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

W Any Anggorowati

Located 33 kilometers from the city center of Purwokerto, Griya Baca Jendela Literasi Tanah Air or Jelita has been serving the community in Kebokura village, Sumpiuh district, Banyumas regency, Central Java, since 2015. Together with her husband, Warastuti Any Anggorowati (47) has opened her house as a place where people can hang out and learn.

Here, people of all ages learn to play music and open their horizons by reading. Around 4,000 books are available to read for free.

A breeze from the rice fields cools the front porch of Griya Jelita. Three boys in National Scouts uniforms sit on a blue rug surrounded by bookshelves. The three of them are looking down, not at a book, but at the screen of an electronic device.

Every now and then they shout, and even one boy cursed because his video game character had been defeated. Hearing the curse from the elementary school student, Any approached and reprimanded him. "Eh, what did you say? Jan saru [That’s inappropriate]," she said, her hands on her hips.

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This is one of the challenges in instilling manners and good reading habits amid technological advances that Any, a literacy activist and dedicated librarian, has been facing since 2009 at SD Negeri Banjarpanepen elementary school in Banyumas, Central Java.

"The Wi-Fi was first installed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Children came here to study together and download their assignments. But now that face-to-face classes have started again, children come here to play games," Any said at her residence on Saturday (14/5/2022).

Even so, this means that Any can still say hello and speak with the children in her village. In addition, with the resumption of in-class learning, the road in front of her house is again filled with children going to and from school in Kebokura. "I call them to stop by, stay for a while. They can read a book while waiting to be picked up," said Any.

KOMPAS/WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

W Any Anggorowati

Music practice

She said that initially, her house was more often used to learn and practice music because her husband, Tri Hartono (54), was a music teacher at SDN 3 Sumpiuh elementary school.

"While waiting for the music lessons to start, I invited the [students] to read books to broaden their horizons instead of chatting or gossiping about other people's feelings," she said.

Any’s drive to improve literacy developed from there. At first, there were only 600 books from the family’s personal collection and materials from Any's library science studies at the Open University. Today, 4,000 books are on display at the reading center.

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"People need entertainment. In addition to education, the [reading center] also offers public entertainment,” said Any.

At school, Any started a “smart box” movement and appointed six reading ambassadors to put together a box of storybooks that all students could read every morning. In the village, Any opened a reading center at her house and started “reading corners” in her neighborhood.

“I invite the children to come here, for example, by offering them iced treats. Sometimes, when a new package of books arrives, I invite them to open the box together, then they fight over what to read,” she explained.

Any runs a reading stall in Sumpiuh City Park every weekend. In addition, she is also collaborating with several government agencies and offices to run reading corners at various locales, for example at Puskesmas (community health center) Sumpiuh and Puskesmas Kemranjen, as well as a “learning hut” at the Sumpiuh District Office and the Karya Pustaka Unit, or Saka Pustaka (library) at the National Scouts’ Sumpiuh branch headquarters.

KOMPAS/WILIBRORDUS MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

W Any Anggorowati (standing) at her house which was used as a Griya Baca Jelita in Sumpiuh, Banyumas, Central Java, Saturday (14/5/2022).

Library science

Through Saka Pustaka, Any has been passing on her passion for reading to hundreds of high school scout members in Sumpiuh for the past four years. She has also shared her knowledge and skills in library services, cataloguing and labeling books, library development, and scrapbooking.

"The meeting is held offline every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. here after I do my morning exercise at Sumpiuh City Park," said Any, who is also a calisthenics instructor.

Together with her husband and their two grown children, Esa Pandu Al-Anhar (24) and Nada Anzila (20), Any was commission by the Indonesian Mobile Library (PBI) to compose a theme song, titled "Mars Penggerak Literasi” (Literacy movement). The lyrics reflect the spirit of Any and other volunteers driving the literacy movement.

If you don't read, you don't exist.

Any, who has been a dedicated librarian for many years, is still enthusiastic, even though her salary grade is different from civil service teachers. For years, her monthly salary was Rp 50,000, which was increased to Rp 75,000 and then to Rp 150,000. For the last three years, her salar has been around Rp 1.2 million per month, in line with Banyumas’ standard minimum wage (UMR).

"The important thing is that I am following my heart with joy, I can be of benefit to other people," said Any, who also plays the keyboards on stage, like her husband.

In addition to addressing the challenges of modern technology, Any hopes that the government will also pay attention to librarians. According to her, so far the government only promotes teachers, not librarians, as civil servants. She also wants the policy on free delivery services to be restored so her reading center and reading corners can receive new shipments of books.

From the outskirts of Banyumas regency through Griya Baca Jelita, Any and her husband continue to combine music and literacy as edutainment to benefit others.

“Ora maca, ora eksis” (If you don't read, you don't exist): This is Any’s motto in continuing her fight to improve literacy.

Warastuti Any Anggorowati

Born: Kebumen, 15 May 1975

Education:

- Library Science, Open University (2015)

- SMA Taman Siswa Karanganyar, Kebumen

- SMP PGRI 6 Karanganyar, Kebumen

- SDN 5 Karanganyar, Kebumen

Awards & recognition:

- 2016 Banyumas Literacy Activist Award

- Second place for Griya Jelita, 2018 Banyumas regency TBM Management Real Work Competition

- Invitation to a break-the-fast gathering and informal conversation with the President (May 2018)

- 2019 Banyumas Regional Library and Archives Service Award Library

- Winner, Most Favorite Work Unit, 2020 Bakti Pertiwi Awards, Sumpiuh Work Council

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo.