To Be a Great Women
About 20 years ago, Sjamsudin Tjandra learned about Wahana Visi Indonesia's child sponsorship program from the church where he worships. Wanting to share his blessings, Sjamsudin chose the children to support. Time passed until the sponsored children became adults, and Sjamsudin continued his commitment as a sponsor with a different child. This time, apart from wanting to share his blessings, Sjamsudin also has a reason why he chose three girls from Jayawijaya Regency.
"God has entrusted me with blessings, so I want to share. But besides that, I also have hope that girls, especially, can get a good education. If they can attend school well, their future life can improve. And I am very concerned about the eastern part of Indonesia because it is the farthest," said Sjamsudin.
Sjamsudin realizes that girls are often given different rights than boys. Gender differences become a barrier and minimize opportunities for girls to develop. "I also see that men can still do heavy work because they are physically capable. But for women, the most important thing is education. You have to have a broad knowledge to progress," said man who works as a Notary and Land Deed Official at Sukabumi Regency.
Jeffrey Wong (left) and Sjamsudin Tjandra (right)
A different story came from Jeffrey Wong. The Medan-based man chose a girl from East Nusa Tenggara as his sponsored child because of her smile. A photo of a smiling girl from South Central East District caught Jeffrey's attention. At the time, he had just earned money and wanted to share his achievements. When information about Wahana Visi Indonesia appeared on social media, he decided to share by sponsoring a child.
"I was pleased when I received the letter from the sponsored child. I salute this girl. I believe this child has the ability. Living in the South Middle East is not a limitation for her. When I was her age, I didn't think I could do things like this child," Jeffrey said.
For approximately one year, committed to being a child sponsor, Jeffrey hopes to meet his sponsored child one day. "When I meet him, I want to ask him to play jump rope because that's his favorite game. I also want to challenge him on math because he wants to be a teacher," he said.
Despite the distance, Jeffrey and his sponsored child always pray for each other and express their hopes. Jeffrey prays that his sponsored child will be a girl who is always healthy, remains cheerful, eager to learn both for academic and non-academic matters, and no less important, namely, developing skills in relationships and socializing. Jeffrey hopes his sponsored child also learns about critical thinking so that she will be an intelligent and observant woman when she grows up. "I believe Lany can compete with other children."
Committing to supporting girls through the child sponsorship program is the first step to advancing Indonesian women. When a girl develops and grows into a role model, she can help other girls so that there will be more Indonesian women who are empowered and working.
Written by: Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)
