“No matter who you are, how bad your past was, you have the right to have a dream” — Said ARN when interviewed directly by the Feminist Society team through an online meeting on Thursday, 20 June 2024. ARN is a real portrayal that women are not supposed to be underestimated since they also have the same chances in every field as men. Those incredible visions came from her personal experience when she underwent directly discriminatory treatment when she was a child. Coming from a small village in Kalimantan, ARN grew up in an environment where status as a poor woman was regarded as less important, and her rights were frequently done away with. Spending her teenage years in elementary and middle school in Kalimantan, ARN got bullied by her friends just because she was poor. Even they were not only verbal bullying but also physical bullying.
That experience really traumatized
her until at one point she did not want to remember that childhood. “Most
people probably would consider their childhood was fun and really want to go
back if they could, but for me, it is different, I will not, even to recall that
one I will not”. It was a bad day for ARN, hence she had to escape from
that condition to change her life to be better.
That was the beginning of ARN’s
motivation to progress and develop. To make ends meet during school, she worked
as a helper at her aunt's restaurant to continue making ends meet. Then after
junior high school, ARN intended to leave Kalimantan because she believed that to
develop further we had to get out of an unsupportive environment. With her good
academic abilities, ARN was finally able to continue her vocational studies in
Malang in the field of culinary arts with a scholarship.
While she was in Malang, ARN really
wanted to take advantage of all the opportunities available by trying many
things. While attending school, ARN became a model and earned side income from
there. Because when she was in Malang, ARN studied at a Catholic school which could
be said to be very expensive, even though ARN received a scholarship there were
still other expenses that ARN had to pay. Finally, apart from being a model,
ARN also worked in the hospitality sector to make ends meet. With hard work,
ARN was finally able to complete her studies in Malang
After studying vocational school in
Malang, ARN then moved to Bali and worked for 2 years in Bali and then moved
again to Balikpapan. It could be said that this position was the best point for
her, by working in Bali and Balikpapan ARN was able to become financially
stable. ARN was finally able to help pay off her parents' debts, help renovate her
parents' house, and send her siblings to school until they graduated.
That success is not only achieved
easily, many sacrifices have been made, starting from becoming a sales
promotion girl for a cigarette brand, becoming a model in a nightclub and many
more things have been done to survive to the point of financial success. With
the financial stability she had, ARN then saw the opportunity to open a laundry
business. After some time, her laundry business finally achieved success and
earned a turnover of hundreds of millions.
At this point of success, ARN
finally found her passion in the field of communications so she was moved to
become a professional waitress who could work on cruise ships and be able to
travel around the world and see the beauty of the world out there.
Realizing that to achieve her dream,
there are many things that she must fight for and learn, one of which is
English itself. At that point, ARN finally started her journey to learn
English. In the end, when ARN had acquired English language skills, she finally
received paid internship offers in three different places (Jakarta, Bali and
Malaysia). Once again, ARN saw a big opportunity if she chose to go to Malaysia
because apart from being paid quite well there, she could also prepare herself,
especially in English language habits, considering that the English language
culture in Malaysia is higher compared to Indonesia.
Now ARN has been running a paid
internship program for 3 months in Malaysia and will end next September. After
the paid internship process is complete, she will immediately prepare herself
for all the subsequent needs and preparations towards her dream of becoming a
professional cruise ship waitress who is ready to see the world. ARN's journey
is proof that everyone has the right to dream regardless of gender. "Women
are not slaves to men, women are equal to men, so don't be afraid to chase our
dreams, we are women, we have the right to dream." ARN's voice is a loud
voice to voice gender equality, it is a call to all women out there not to be
afraid to chase dreams.
In our section with ARN, we finally
agreed on several crucial things, where Feminist Society will always support
her and we also gave several recommendations to her on what she could do to
deal with several challenges forward regarding discriminatory treatment against
her rights as a woman.
If you have any case related to
gender equality or feminist issues and you need either advocacy assistance, counseling,
support for campaign media, or some kind of that, feel free to contact us by
this section. All of those things are free, you do not need to pay anything, it
is our commitment to promote progress in gender equality and women’s rights
through education and advocacy.
You can also contact us on:
Instagram : @feministsociety.id
Email : fem.official7@gmail.com
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