Light at the end of the tunnel
A story of Ourhome Indonesia, and the little big dreamer.
Surely, it is an idiom that we are all familiar with. However, how many of us actually believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel? Because for me, I once didn’t.
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2018, I was on one of the darkest days of my life. I remember it being the day, someone I hung my life to, told me to stop my studies due to the family’s financial conditions –and to soothe my heart that day, I decided to walk down the beautiful place at the heart of Bandung.
Walking down the street alone, I sulked that “the light at the end of the rainbow” is only a thing that everyone says as a lie to soothe people – in short, it is bullshit. However, thay was all before I was approached by a kid – Dian. Surprisingly, despite my being afraid of humans, Dian catches my heart to the point I open up a conversation with him. In it, I realized how brilliant Dian is. Sadly, he can’t pursue any education due to family conditions – just like how I felt that day, but I got lucky of getting through to high school, whilst Dian should stop before his primary diploma.
Dian opened my eye. In short, he is my light in the unending tunnel I thought I have. In an instant, he changed my life. Looking at how much his grit in continuing his life – and he hopes, his studies – I decided to stand for my dream. Despite the conditions, I push my limit to get into the university I want, which is considered one of the best universities in Indonesia, through a non-test admission. All for one reason – to show Dian and kids like him who in the end I taught, that they have a sister who pushes the limit and is with them for them to pursue education.
Well, surely the pathway wasn’t easy. The tunnel still looks like a never-ending tunnel. I need to do four part-time jobs and some freelance to barely live and send money to my family. However, all the work was never enough to pay my hundreds of million rupiah tuition. For it, I also enrolled myself in scholarships. Oh, I remembered being so emotional in an interview to give a statement, “I don’t now what will I be or even of graduating from this university, however, I know that I have a grit to show my kids that I am here to give them hope of a better education.”
And yes, miraculously, I traveled the world for that small dream – full scholarships, to come back and tell my kids that the world is too big for us to think that the world is just for the rich. Me, I, am living proof that through education, the world is just a leap of faith. Yes, the light was really at the end of the tunnel.
Now, I am on my way to shifting my whole life for them – the before 5 children, now 50 children, and the next thousand – to step into a place I have never been, a path I never imagined, and a story I never thought I would write.
So please, please, please. If you see costumed teenager in the street, kid-street musicians, or kids who are selling plastic bags/tissue/drinks, please be nice to them. They are loved by many, and one of them… is me.
The light is at the end of the tunnel, and I want to show them that, as how they showed me the lights.
