Why a Booktrail?
21C: A hugely popular novel in Indonesia when it first came out and a story of teachers and students from a school threatened with closure. Their spirit to survive will warm your heart…
The Rainbow Troops
What you need to know before your trail
A closely autobiographical tale of the trials and tribulations of ten students (nicknamed the Rainbow Troops) and two teachers from Muhammadiyah Elementary School on Belitong Island, Indonesia.
Their school is threatened with closure and so they must find a way to survive in a remote area which no one in authority seems to care about.
The book was inspired by Hirata’s own childhood experiences on the tiny, isolated island of Belitong and describes their struggle to receive the education they should be entitled to under Indonesian law.
Travel Guide
Whether you’ve heard of the small island of Belitong, or have even been, this is a visit guided by a six year old boy named Ikal, who will eventually go on to college and win a scholarship to go abroad, beating incredible odds to become a writer.
This is a story of adversity and the strong desire to have a good education in order to better your life. The only free school on the island is nothing more than a ramshackle affair –
“…a roof with leaks so large that students see planes flying in the sky and have to hold umbrellas while studying on rainy days”,
Even the struggle to get to school is difficult – finding your way as a young child through the jungle, harsh landscape and avoiding the wild animals is no easy task so by the time they get to the school, the hard part of their day seems to be over.
But the overriding spirit of the children lives on and the children and their world is heartbreaking, poignant and incredibly moving. Lintang cycles miles each day to get to school. Mahar is a quirky child, and one small child sits in class and listens, desperate to improve his chances in life despite not really understanding much at all
Can such people ever escape their fate?
Fighting injustice and the chance for an education with everything you have – a story of incredible odds and even more incredible children.
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