Ahmad Fauzi and his father, mother, and brother had gathered to wait the announcement of university entrance results. The tears broke down when they found out Fauzi is accepted in the Accounting Department, Faculty of Economics and Business UGM with full scholarship from the government. "I hugged Fauzi, we were all crying, overwhelmed, it was unbelievable that his dream to go to college can be a reality," Fauzi’s mother, Siti Ulfah, said recently.
Both parents are proud of their son’s achievements. Since he was a little kid, he always wanted to go to college. Despite coming from a relatively poor family, Fauzi never loses faith and continues to study hard to achieve his dream. Mustafa, Fauzi’s father, works as clothes seller at a market near Tanjung Benoa, Bali. The market is about 28 kilometers from his home in Denpasar.
By riding his old bike, he needs 45 minutes or more to get to the market. Mustafa will set off from his home at three in the afternoon and go home around eleven at night. That is the routine that he does every day in order to meet the needs of his family. As a salesman, Mustafa has irregular income. Moreover, when the rainy season arrives, there will be less revenue. Fauzi’s mother helped the family economy by selling furnitures around the village. However, she stopped after two years due to diabetes she suffered.
Mustafa’s economy worsened in 2011. A fire that caught crowded house settlement s in his village burned his only house as well. The house that they built on a rented land was gone and there was no remaining possessions they could save.
After the fire incident, Mustafa was no longer able to pay the rent of the land. In fact, Mustafa claimed to not be able to build a house again, remembering all of his belongings were burned on fire. So now Mustafa, his wife and two children have to live in boarding house sized 3x6m. It has only two rooms, the front and the back which functions as a kitchen and toilet.
"In that area (front) is where Fauzi sleeps, eats, and studies. If his friends came to study this would be the place as well," Fauzi’s mother said.
According to his parents, Fauzi was a diligent child. Everyday, Fauzi could not be separated from the book. No wonder that he has earned many achievements. In Economics, he earned the first place of Teenage Accounting Competition at UNAIR in February 2015, the first place of KOMPek FEB UI 2016, and the third place of Accounting Olympiad at the University of Malang. Fauzi who loves literature and the performing arts also won a Poetry Reading Contest in Bali in 2014 and also lined up as Best Actor in Welang Monologue Awards. Mustafa told that Fauzi has always been the classroom champion and awarded scholarship until graduation.
Two of the keys to Fauzi’s success are diligence and strong determination. It was showed when his mother did not give permission to study too far from home. His mother wanted Fauzi to study at universities in Bali or Surabaya, "I do not have the heart to let him go, in Yogyakarta he will have nobody. I am afraid of what kind of situation he will get into,” Fauzi’s mother said.
Siti was also worried about not being able to finance Fauzi. However, Fauzi remained to keep his dream to study at UGM. Fauzi wanted to study at the Faculty of Economics and Business at UGM because it is the only Faculty of Economics and Business that is accredited by the AACSB. Therefore, Fauzi is sure that this faculty is the right choice for him. Fauzi repeatedly asked permission to his mother, but she said no many times as well. However, in the end Siti was unable to turn down her son’s will. She finally approved his son choice after he convinced his mother that he would get full scholarship through Bidik Misi program. After receiving the blessings of his mother, Fauzi registered for entrance test immediately and, finally, accepted at UGM.