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A gaggle of children sat in the shade on mats, books, pens and paper strewn around as they laughed and studied their way through another Sunday morning.

They are there through the efforts of Vallent Heinemann and Sera Pasaribu, two old friends who share a passion for education and children’s advocacy. The two went to elementary school together, lost touch and eventually reconnected through social media.

But it was the tragic story of a child who committed suicide in 2010 because he could no longer go to school that got Vallent and Sera thinking about what they could do to give back to the community.

“We decided to do something for children,” Vallent said.

So they established Komunitas Sahabat Kecil (Children’s Best Friends Community), which focuses on literacy and basic education.

Every Sunday morning, with the help of volunteers, Vallent and Sera teach dozens of children in Cipetey village in Bogor. Sera, who works for the Ministry of Health, said they teach these children how to read, write and do arithmetic.

Vallent, who was previously involved with a Bandung-based community focusing on children’s education, said while everyone was welcome to attend the study sessions, they focused on children aged 3 to 15 who could not read.

“Our vision is to help children who are illiterate and forced to work to help their families,” she said.

The program is free and the only that is asked of the children is that they have a good attitude and work hard.

Full-time volunteer teachers are recruited every three months, while drop-in volunteers stop by when they can.

Vallent said it was extremely important to have full-time volunteers to ensure there would be lessons every week because the children depended on them.

Both Vallent and Sera said they tried to keep the lessons fun and keep the mood light in the makeshift classroom, an outdoor area in the middle of the village.

“The lessons are always accompanied by games or colorful study aides to help them understand quickly,” Vallent said.

“I think it’s important that these children don’t get bored,” Sera said, adding that a dynamic atmosphere encouraged the students to keep coming back.

Vallent and Sera both said it was a tragedy that so many children were unable to read and write, and that literacy should be a basic human right.

“In this era, it is so sad that so many children are still illiterate, while others are using high-tech gadgets,” Sera said.

As a private organization, Komunitas Sahabat Kecil depends on public donations, which Vallent and Sera supplement with their own money.

They said one of their biggest challenges was maintaining a positive, active atmosphere. The community uses different approaches to achieve this.

“In formal education, the teacher is always right,” Sera said. “We don’t want to be like that. In our classroom, we try to become facilitators and not teachers.”

Getting the students to attend regularly is also a challenge. Vallent said they could not force students to come every week. “But when they miss the program’s fun atmosphere, they will come again,” she said.

The community’s hard work has started to pay off as the students start to show improvement. Now Vallent and Sera are looking to expand the program to reach more children in the village.

But it’s not only the students that benefit. Sera said the volunteers learned a lot from the students.

As a budding community, Komunitas Sahabat Kecil has a simple yet ambitious goal. It wants to ensure that every child in Cipetey can read or has the opportunity to learn.

“We just feel so happy that we can help these children,” Vallent said

For more information, go to: www.komunitassahabatkecil.blogspot.com