By Ling Hui
TELANG USAN, March 13: The D’Drift Team has successfully delivered 1,340 secondhand books, two bags of soft toys and three boxes of toys to the Long Latei community library earlier today.
The donations were received by Telang Usan assemblyman Dato Dennis Ngau here during a handover ceremony.
It took the D’Drift Team altogether over four hours to reach the library by road from Miri town. The library is directly opposite Kampung Long Latei and 20 minutes away from Long Bedian.
Despite having to travel on challenging roads to reach our destination, the DayakDaily journalists were determined to complete the book delivery mission.
To Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) who donated 500 books and DayakDaily readers who contributed the rest of the donations, we have conveyed your hopes and love from Kuching to the Penan residents of Long Latei.
Big thanks to Pertubuhan Wartawan Bebas Kuching (Pewarta), La Promenade Mall and Plaza Merdeka for the sponsorship and kind assistance to make this annual book-delivery event a heartwarming success.
Meanwhile, Dennis expressed his appreciation to DayakDaily for traveling to Long Latei to help furnish the ‘Reading Corner’ in Long Latei, which caters to the residents of 19 Penan villages in the vicinity.
He said the ‘Reading Corner’ was set up in a Rural Service Centre (RSC) following the proposal by Sarawak State Library to set up reading corners in longhouses.
“In a meeting with them, I said their plan is not effective due to a limited supply of books. Then, I counter-proposed using RSC Long Latei to do the ‘Sudut Membaca’ because the facilities are already there.
“To cut the story short, it was a joint effort between my ‘pusat khidmat’ (service centre), myself, Marudi District Office, and Sarawak State Library Miri Branch.
“The government wanted to do it but there weren’t any funds, so I had to chip in to repair the place and buy the book racks,” he told DayakDaily today.
While Sarawak State Library Miri Branch trained two local women as librarians, Dennis himself pays RM300 each per month as their allowance.
When speaking at the handover ceremony, Dennis urged residents to read more because knowledge from books “can be more filling than food” when it provides them with paying jobs, allowing them to put food on their tables.
He also advised them not to vandalise the books and to take good care of the community library so that it can be sustained. — DayakDaily
