That was the scene at the Rumah Dunia Children and Youth Study Center in Hegar Alam complex, Ciloang village, Serang, Banten, on a particular Saturday.

In the daytime, the place is more lively as it is filled with university and high school students who come to read, learn writing, hold discussions and practice drama.

The center, set up by author of youth novel fame, Gola Gong, is better known as Pustakaloka Rumah Dunia (RD), literally meaning World House Library. The place is equipped with a pendopo (large open structure that serves as a hall), a small bookstore, a guest house, two libraries with a collection of around 4,000 books and a stage measuring 75 square meters. The facility which is built on 1,000 square meters of land stands out amid surrounding paddy fields.

Gola Gong refers to the place as a “cultural project”. The PRD is run by Gola Gong and his wife Tias Tantaka, along with two of Gola’s assistants, Ibnu Adam Avicienna (since February in Holland) and Firman Venayaksa. Ibnu, who graduated from the Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Teacher Training Institute in Serang, Banten, is entrusted to oversee arts and journalistic matters. He has published a novel and a number of anthologies with his friends at PRD. Firman, who is a lecturer at Tirtayasa University in Serang, oversees PRD’s programs (right now he become President of Rumah Dunia). The communications graduate from Bandung’s Padjadjaran University has also published two novels.

“The place is full of students every afternoon coming to read and practice writing even though there’s no writing lessons. A number of students in Banten who are active in their university journals regularly come here to prepare their tabloid or bulletin, often asking for suggestions for their journalistic assignments,” said Firman.

PRD was founded by Gola Gong four years ago. According to Gola, he intentionally abbreviated Pustakaloka Rumah Dunia to PRD to make use of the popularity of political party Partai Rakyat Demokratik. “The impact is incredible. People can easily remember our place. But there are negative effects though. We are often perceived as party’ activists,” said Gola.

Banten residents are quite familiar with PRD’s activities due coverage in Radar Banten daily. Every Thursday, PRD students write about their activities for the daily, which has the largest circulation in Banten.

In an effort to teach the youth of Banten to appreciate cultural issues, PRD holds a program called Folktale Tour every Monday. Children participating in this program are guided into a world of their imagination. They will be led to explore this world and fantasize through the tales

they read.

PRD also holds the Drawing Tour every Thursday; apparently the most popular program, seen from the 50 to 60 children taking part in it.

The Writing and Study Tour program, held every Wednesday and Thursday, is aimed at providing the opportunity to children to write anything they find interesting. Supervised by tutors, children are free to write prose or poetry. Drama lessons are conducted every Friday.

After five days of programs that cater more to school children, PRD holds dialogs for participants from various backgrounds every Saturday to discuss numerous topics, from arts and culture, publications and education to other current issues. While writing lessons for school-aged children are held every Wednesday and Thursday, Sundays are reserved for university students, materials of which range from journalistic writing to literature and TV screenplay writing techniques.

On the same day, children are given the freedom to express themselves, through writing poetry and reading it in front of others, practicing dancing, or just reading books at the children’s library.

Students from the first batch are publishing an anthology titled Kacamata Sidik (Investigative Glasses). Another student, Qizink La Aziva, published a novel titled Gerimis Terakhir (The Last Drizzle) and Ibnu Adam Aviciena wrote the novel Mana Bidadari Untukku (Where’s the Angel For Me).

PRD students from the first to the fifth batch have filled local magazines and newspapers with short stories and essays. Three anthologies written by students from the first to fifth batches have filled bookshelves in bookstores, such as Padi Memerah (Ripening Paddy), Harga Sebuah Hati (Price of a Heart) and Masih Ada Cinta di Senja Itu (There’s Still Love at Twilight).

Endang Rukmana, a student from the first batch, even won a Unicef Award in 2004 and Adkhilni M.S. received the Ikapi Award in the same year.