LPDP Scholarship Journey #4

[Picture Source: Lisadouthit.com]

I was inspired by awesome senior who taught me to pay forward. She was the super kind-hearted person, mba Ninis. The thing is I don't know her really well, She was neither my senior in my faculty nor in my organization. I only met Mba Ninis for once. Nevertheless, I am confident to say how super kind-hearted she is.

In a beautiful day, I attended Asian Chemical Biology Initiative in 2015 to meet numerous prospective professors. I wasn't alone, I was with my friends who also intended to find the opportunity to be their prospective student. Randomly, I met mba Ninis, then we introduced ourself each other. I was surprised to know that actually mba Ninis has already been accepted by a professor from Osaka University so the reason why she attended the event was just because she would like to meet her professor who also attended the event. She also had been accepted as the awardee of LPDP so at that time she was just waiting for her departure. 

I interviewed her so much how she can get the professor and LPDP scholarship. Because of the limited time we had at that time, she kindly gave her email and asked me to continue the discussion later through email. She said that actually she had been helped by so many people in order to get the scholarship so she also intended to help me getting the scholarship really much as a paying forward. In this case, I never thought there was a person like mba Ninis who gave her hands without any charges to a person like me whom she firstly met that in fact she didn't know me really well. Before this, I always think twice to give that kind of help to a person whom I firstly met. By her saying, I was touched, then I promised to myself to do the same thing like her.

Yes, I contacted her so many times, discussing how to get contact with a prospective professor until discussing how to write the essays in applying for the LPDP scholarship. During our communication, she encouraged me to use English, she said that I have to be accustomed to it since the benefits will be obtained later when I start the study. I felt really grateful to know her so I always pray to God to give her all the best. 

Actually, the concept of paying forward has been learned during my study in my pharmacy faculty. Yet, I just realized how important to pay forward it is as our gratitude after meeting mba Ninis. We had a really great culture in pharmacy faculty. No other faculties in my university have that kind of that culture. A culture that builds a really strong bond between the senior and junior. We have the "brother and sister" relation. There are numerous families in the faculty. Every student must have his/her older sister/brother and his/her younger sister/brother. 

Let me explain this by my own example. When we became the freshman, the seniors who were 1 year older greeted us. After having so much time with the senior to build our character and to let us know about the culture, we were asked to find our own prospective older sister/brother each other. At that time, I had three seniors who will be my prospective older sister. I was only able to have the choice, but it's not me who decided, the one who decided was the seniors themselves whom I proposed. Finally, every student had their own older sister/brother, no one that didn't have the older sister/brother at all. So basically, every student has their own family. I have one older sister, my older sister has her older sister, I also have my younger sister, and my younger sister also has her younger sister, and so forth, so that's why we build a family. 

The culture seems quite complicated, but actually, the purpose of having the culture is really simple. The older sister gave her notes that she had written during in the class. It doesn't stop until I was the one who received it, I also had the obligation to give the notes to my younger sister as a paying forward, as my gratitude that I have been helped by my older sister who had provided me the notes so I was able to comprehend the study better. My younger sister would also do the same, she would give the notes to her younger sister, and so forth. A simple culture that taught me to pay forward. 

Besides the notes, I had so much fun with the family. We were not only providing notes each other, but we also provided our time each other to celebrate one of us' birthday, to greet our new member in the family, or to celebrate our older sister/brother's graduation. Because of the family, I was able to survive during studying in pharmacy faculty. What a power of paying forward!

During my preparation to obtain the LPDP scholarship, of course, I was helped by so many friends of mine. I involved 4 friends in reviewing my essays, I involved 4 different friends in practicing the leaderless group discussion and interview, I also involved 4 awardees of LPDP in consulting about the LPDP selection process. There might be also other friends who were indirectly involved during my preparation. That's why I was involving so many people to help me obtain the scholarship. Genuinely, I felt really grateful to have them around me. Without them, I couldn't imagine whether I would succeed or not. 

As I was helped by so many people and as I have promised to myself before, to do the same thing like mba Ninis, I truly offer my hands to help you obtain the LPDP scholarship. You can contact me through my email: nurulfm93@ymail.com. You can ask me anything. Just in case, I couldn't give the response quickly or I give the response but not reaching your expectation, I ask your forgiveness in front. I may be in the situation when I couldn't response it in the best way. After that, as the concept of paying forward, to show your gratitude, I invite you also to do the same thing to others who may need your hands. I hope, by paying forward, not only your dream that can be true, but you also help others to make their dreams come true. Isn't it beautiful?