With intention and willingness to learn, limitations are no barrier to make achievements. This way of thinking has been adopted by Galuh Kholifa Jati to make her dream come true and continue her studies after she graduated from her high school in Lombok island, SMA Negeri I Praya.
Galuh Kholifa Jati was born in a modest family. Her father, Muhammad Taufiq, is a man who would do anything to make ends meet. Once he was a worker at building constructions. Now he does farming at the paddyfield of one of his relatives.
“When it is the harvest season, the income is around 1.5 million per month. The profit is shared in halves, so you have to make it sufficient for you,” he said.
Her mother, Azizah, sells groceries at Renteng market in West Praya, Lombok.
Despite this modesty, Galuh’s spirit to study hard never waned. Unsurprisingly, her academic achievements were always among the best since grade X, XI, and XII. Now Galuh was relieved because these achievements have landed her at Civil Engineering study programme of Universitas Gadjah Mada. She is even one of the recipients of Bidik Misi scholarship from government for the underpriviledged.
“I was thankful I could be accepted at UGM in Civil Engineering,” said Galuh when met at her home in Batulajang hamlet, Batujai village in West Praya, Lombok island.
Galuh said her persistence and select friends were key to her success in learning. Not that she is discriminating in making friends, but she said it was not easy to find friends that have the same vision with her. She found this after the school bells ringing, not many of them would want to spend the day at school learning. Just a handful of the students would stay and study in group.
“Sometimes we go home in the afternoon to make effective use of the time, studying with schoolmates,” said the girl born on 19 July 1999.
“It’s not the teacher but us wanting to study by ourseIves,” she said. She also gave advice to focus and not to lose concentration while studying.
In her daily life, Galuh never complained when given some 10 -15 thousand by her parents for bus transport and lunch. She also never hesitated to loan books from schoolmates or her seniors.
Now, while waiting for courses to begin at UGM, Galuh helps her mother sell groceries in the market. “Although we’re not rich and uneducated, we should not feel inconfident. We have to prove that getting smart can come from anywhere, depending on how we learn,” she said.
Her father, Muhammad Taufiq, was thankful that amidst the economic limitations, Galuh can still get accepted at UGM. “Galuh has a strong will, she wants to be a construction expert,” said Taufiq, hoping that she would study well in Yogyakarta.