A photographer who came to visit him in his faraway town on the volcanic island of Java, Indonesia, nicknamed Ridwan Sururi the “Don Quixote of literacy”. But even if Sururi is tilting at windmills that don’t fight back, they’re real enough.

A recent Connecticut State University study ranked Indonesia 60th out of 61 nations in a measure of literate behavior, research that considered a country’s access to things like computers, newspapers, and libraries. That’s why the work Sururi does is so important.

After years spent caring for horses and working in the horseback tourism industry, one of Sururi’s clients suggested he do something to give back to the community. That client, Nirwan Arsuka, helped to kick start the literacy campaign with a donation of 138 books. Sururi supplied the manpower, saddling up his favorite horse, Luna—outfitted with a special shelf-like harness—and spending three days each week acting as a free mobile library, traveling from school to school throughout the region.

What began with a small collection of reading materials has now grown to nearly a thousand books. Many are written in Indonesian and contain pictures to help spur the children’s interest in reading, but the horse helps as well. For her part, Luna not only carts her literary treasure trove across Central Java’s mountainous terrain, she also helps to attract the children, an important part of the process, Sururi explains in a video for UNTV Life.

Because who wouldn’t have plowed through their summer reading list if it was Luna showing up with books at your door?

You can read The New York Times’ full article here or watch UNTV Life’s video below.

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