Having the ability to give good education to our children is the dream of all parents. Arief Effendi (51), bus driver, and his wife, Endang Sukarsih (49), have been dreaming to make their children more successful than they are.
In the past 17 years, Arief has been driving a public transport on the Pacitan-Solo route. Each month he can only make Rp1 million from this occupation which is used to support his family and finance the education of their three children. Endang makes and sells rice meals every day near the Square of Pacitan town in East Java. She does this to give additional support to the family.
Both raised their children in a modest home in Lingkungan Gantung area, Pacitan. Despite this modesty, Arief had strong determination to be able to send all the children to college. For him, education is very important because it can change someone’s life into a better one.
“It’s been very hard, actually, to do this, especially when both the first and second children had to go to college while the third still at school, too. But no matter what it takes, I would still try to send all my children to college,” he said.
Back then, he even had to sell the house for a living and tuitions. They also had to eat rice only with ketchup and crackers due to the scarcity of cash. “But our children were truly aware of the condition of their parents, they never asked for fancy things, and they kept making achievement,” he said.
The toil has paid off. The eldest daughter finally graduated from IAIN Surakarta and later opened a private course for students. The second daughter that graduated from UNS Solo now works at one of government’s largest banks. The youngest son, Wahyu Aji Cahyana, has been admitted to study for free at UGM in 2017, receiving Bidikmisi scholarship from the government for underpriviledged but outstanding students.
“I was very thankful and happy to be accepted at UGM, moreover that I’m freed from tuitions,” said Aji, the nickname of Wahyu Aji Cahyana.
Aji said he never felt ashamed of the occupation of his father. It did not stop him from making his dream come true to study at the university. From elementary school up to high school, he had always been studying hard to complete his education. His hard work was finally fruitful. The alumnus of SMA 1 Pacitan has been accepted at Faculty of Agricultural Technology UGM .
“I want to be an engineer and make innovations that can benefit the wider public,” said the winner of bridge competition of Prambanan Cup 2015.
His mother, Endang, can only give her blessings and prayers for his study while he becomes the person that brings pride to the family.
“I just wish his study to run well and he can achieve his dreams,” she said shortly.