From Hope to Reality

The hope of 3 students from Cirendeu Community for the chance of attend college in September has now been fulfilled.

Here is the story of two of the students. Rustandi is studying Management and Ardiansyah is studying Industrial Engineering.

Rustandi (nickname Tandi) and Ardiansyah (nickname Ardi) have started their college year last month, after going through back and forth decisions, and passing the entry tests, they finally got accepted.   Coming from many generations of trash pickers and trying to compete with more than 800.000 students for places in 85 colleges with 1 chair for 15 applicants, their chances were quite slim.

When we asked Ardi why he wanted to continue his study, he said: “My teacher said to me:   ‘Ardi, if you have an opportunity to receive help to pay your school, keep going, continue to study, you will have a better future.”

Ardi’s father had passed away when he had just started his first year in high school. His mother never worked before and now she had to raise her son and 2 daughters.  Being a single parent, Ardi’s mother never dreamed Ardi could continue his study at college.

At first, Ardi’s mom told him not to continue school because she was afraid of not being able to support financially. But Ardy kept showing his enthusiasm and his determination not to stop. Finding the right school and going through the registration process and entry tests almost discouraged him and his mother. When all had settled down Ardi said: “I am going to continue my study until I finish.  I don’t want to disappoint the donors, my mom and my sisters. I want to make the most of this opportunity as I can.”

Tandi’s road going to the college world is about the same as Ardi.   In the beginning, Tandi did not want to go to college. He just wanted to find a job, any job.

Tandi is the second of five children. His father has been in and out of prison and left Tandi’s mother with their young children.  Tandi is very close to his mother so he wanted to just work and help his mother.   Pena his mother kept encouraging him.  She said to him:  “If you continue study, you will have more friends, you will have more knowledge. If you work now, what kind of job will you have? With such a small salary, how will you help your mother, your sisters, and yourself?”

He had a lot to think about, and couple days later, he said: “I want to continue my study and learn more about management. I want to prove to myself that after graduate I can help my mother and help my sisters go to college.”

Help us ensure that the children and the adults in our community can have a better life by giving them a better education.   We want to empower the trash picker’s children and make them believe that they can have a better future and that they can move away from the dump site into a better life.

Your continuous donations through Global Giving will continue to help Ardi’s and Tandi’s dream become a reality.