KOREA FOUNDATION

The Rainbow Troops

· Author: Andrea Hirata / Translator: Kim Seon-hui

· Publisher: Theory and Practice (July 2011)

This is the story of school children who dream of a better future, and teachers who dedicate themselves to them and their small school in Muhammadiyah, an impoverished village on the island of Belitung, Indonesia. With the school facing the risk of being shut down if the number of enrolled students falls below ten, the children in danger due to tin being found buried under the school building, and some even having to leave school to earn a living, the remaining children and their teachers struggle to protect their school from a series of ordeals, with the children gradually growing up in the process. This touching story of children and their teachers, who hold a strong belief that poverty must not take away children’s opportunities to gain an education, brings a smile to readers’ faces.