Cath Witten

In 2015 we found ourselves living in the far remote reaches of Indonesia on a teeny tiny island in the middle of the sea. Our island home was in West Waigeo, about as far west as West Papua gets, and the nearby villages were extremely isolated. As a result, the education system struggled. It was difficult to find teachers willing to live in the conditions offered by poor fishing villages, schools were rundown, and resources of all kinds were extremely limited. I approached teachers to see how I could help. Their answer was swift and clear – they needed books. This was the beginning of the 100Books project. I first set out to raise money among my network of friends and family, then established a Go Fund Me page to buy 100 books to start a small school library collection. We smashed our original goal of 100 books and have now expanded to donate over 4,500 books to 10 different schools and communities. Listening to the needs of the teachers and communities I work with is of primary importance. We donate resources depending on the specific needs of the schools in questions. When books get donated, I ensure they go to places that will use them. We’ve also funded a number of other exciting projects: > We raised money to build a house for a teacher in a fishing village on a small island at the gateway of the Komodo National Park. > We facilitated the donation of 1000+ copies of "Ocean Warriors Plastic in Paradise", a bilingual (English + Indonesian) story to educate young readers about the issue of marine waste. > We developed curriculum for 6 Ocean Warriors Beach School lessons, a multidisciplinary program devised to help educate school children about the dangers of plastic in our oceans and how we can all be better environmental stewards. > We distributed 100 Bamboo toothbrushes and cups to the students of a West Papuan Village - a collaboration that allowed us to share a plastic free option for one of the many items washing up on our beaches.