BESarawak building community library in Batang Ai longhouse
SIBU: Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) is building a community library at Rumah Nanga Ukom in Batang Ai as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme for the rural community called ‘ Gift of Love: Batang Ai Community Library’.
Now 90 per cent completed, it will be installed with solar panels to power the library and the longhouse community there.
The opening ceremony of the project will be held on November 27 at Rumah Nanga Ukom.
It will be attended by Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who is also Minister of Youth and Sports.
The library is provided through BESarawak’s professional connections and resources to shape social development, especially in rural areas.
The project is hosted together with the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), the Librarians’ Association of Malaysia, Sarawak State Library and CPH Travel Agency.
It is aptly tied to the upcoming 59th ICCA Congress Asia Pacific Regional Hub to be held in Kuching from November 1 to 3.
The Gift of Love project is the brainchild of ICCA, and congress delegates and supporting organisations are encouraged to donate books and learning materials as a way to leave a physical legacy behind.
The library is well-suited to the regional congress’ theme this year, which is on the legacies of conventions.
The event’s highlight will be the brand-new legacy impact measurement instrument -a model to forecast on the tangible and intangible effects of business events.
The library will be a pilot project to measure the viability of this instrument which started with data collection on the number of children from the seven Batang Ai longhouses still attending school.
“Business events are already the driving force behind Sarawak Economic Action Council’s advocacy for community development, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability,” said BESarawak’s acting CEO, Amelia Roziman.
She added: “One of Sarawak’s seven Key Focus Areas focuses on rural transformation, with education on the top three agendas.
“When we improve education, we can achieve another of the focus areas which is to re-engineer Sarawak’s economic growth through rural entrepreneurship.”
She said since education was at the forefront of this project, one element was to see how effective the library would be at encouraging children to remain in school.
Tuai Rumah Nanga Ukom said majority of the longhouse children there did not complete their secondary education, which led to a severe lack of graduates and employable youths.
“A library today can be a school tomorrow. It is our future aspiration and legacy for this community library,” Amelia continued.
“We’re vying to collaborate with local education authorities to turn the library into a preschool and a learning centre.
“To further push the educational capacity, we are collaborating with destination management companies to develop a unique CSR for tourists.
She said this was designed to encourage tourists to get involved in teaching basic English to longhouse residents or to partake in a cultural exchange programme.
In this community public library project, BESarawak is setting a record to get 500 books for children aged five to 15 years in nine days, starting in October 27 until November 6.
Individuals, associations and corporate organisations are encouraged to drop book donations at BESarawak’s office at level 3, Plaza Aurora, Jalan McDougall, Kuching.
Further details on the drive can be found on BESarawak’s Facebook page @ business events sarawak.