Mother, Our Kartini
I had chance to be invited to share about self-motivation topic with students in Bina Nusantara University last weekend.
That's resonated Back all memories that brought me to be Who I am now.
Today is 21st April, which the date of R.A. Kartini Celebration day.
She is a Hero for Indonesia for her woman empowerment movement some years ago.
Raden Adjeng Kartini was born on April 21, 1879, in Mayong, Indonesia. In 1903, she opened the first Indonesian primary school for native girls that did not discriminate based on social standing. She corresponded with Dutch colonial officials to further the cause of Javanese women's emancipation up until her death, on September 17, 1904, in Rembang Regency, Java. In 1911, her letters were published.
My father left us when I was 3 years old and my sister was only 18 months. I saw my mother cried every night.
Even though, she raised us with full of love.
She had been working in a shop, owned by my grandparents since she was kid. And so, she came back helping my grandparents, so that she could fed us, and paid our school fees.
We were poor, that we didn’t even afford a good bicycle. And we didn’t afford to eat cheese at all. Because we have many other priority to pay.
I was so upset to her. I was a kid, that want to have bicycle like other. So one day, she bought one, a cheap one, that not so good quality. It was easily broken after several time riding. She told me that she spent her half month wages for that. And I won't forget that moment at all.
I was not a TOP rank student. My score was so-so. And she didn’t force me for that. She told me that as long as we graduated from school, she would be happy enough.
She spent almost her whole life in the shop, but she like to read newspaper, listen to radio news and watch television news so much.
After school, I usually helped her taking care the shop. And at the afternoon, we had the tea time, when she would take a break, having some snack and coffee. That was the time, she would told us different story successful people in the world. Yes, in the world.
One day, She said, pay attention how presidents from United States delivered their speech, they were so confidence, knowing very well what they were delivering, rolling their eyes from left to right, looking at audiences' yes, without reading the text down there. And she encouraged us to learn how to be like that, when delivering speech & presentation. She reminded us.
She also told us story about 3 sisters who considered as first few women from China who studied in United State. And the story about their love life and their political life. Perhaps you know them too. Two of them are very famous; Soong Ching-ling married Sun Yat-sen, leader of China's 1911 revolution and founder of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party) and Soong Mei-ling who married Chiang Kai-shek
The story was not focusing on their husband. But about themselves. They are smart women, with high-education, they can be chairwoman in organization and politic (government).
Soong Ching-ling was held in great esteem by the victorious Communists. She also became one of six vice chairmen of the Central People's Government,[10] and one of several vice-chairmen of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association.[10] She had been awarded the Stalin Peace Prize for 1950.
In 1950, Soong Ching-ling became chairman of the Chinese People's Relief Administration,
which combined several organizations dealing with welfare and relief issues. Her China Welfare Fund was reorganized as the China Welfare Institute and began publishing the magazine China Reconstructs, now published as China Today. In 1953, a collection of her writings, Struggle for New China, was published.
While, Soong Mei-Ling (Madame Chiang) initiated the New Life Movement and became actively engaged in Chinese politics. She was a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1930 to 1932 and Secretary-General of the Chinese Aeronautical Affairs Commission from 1936 to 1938. In 1945 she became a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. As her husband rose to become Generalissimo and leader of the Kuomintang,
Madame Chiang acted as his English translator, secretary and advisor.
She was his muse, his eyes, his ears, and his most loyal champion. During World War II, Madame Chiang tried to promote the Chinese cause and build a legacy for her husband on a par with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Well-versed in both Chinese and Western culture, she became popular both in China and abroad. Her prominence led Joseph Stilwell to quip that she ought to be appointed minister of defense.
She made several tours to the United States to lobby support for the Nationalists' war effort. She drew crowds as large as 30,000 people and in 1943 made the cover of TIME magazine for a third time. She was a Patron of the International Red Cross Committee, honorary chair of the British United Aid to China Fund, and First Honorary Member of the Bill of Rights Commemorative Society.
Another story she told us, about a young girl, Carol Shaw, who born in 1955.
She did not enjoy the stereotypical girl activities as a child like playing with dolls.
Instead, she would mess with her brother's model railroad set. Shaw first became interested in computers in high school when she used a computer for the first time and discovered she could play text-based games on the system.
She is a former video game designer, notable for being one of the first female designers in the video game industry. While working at Atari, Inc. in 1978, Shaw designed the unreleased Polo game and designed 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe the same year, both for the Atari 2600. And continue with many other games; Othello, river Raid, happy Trails, Calculator, etc.
In 2017, Shaw won the Industry Icon Award at The Game Awards.[8]
Her afternoon tea time stories has brought the spirit within me and my sister.
And so, that's the source of our motivation.
We improved our lives, by improving our mindset.
Despite of our family condition, I tried to take the examination studying in University that I would like to have, Bina Nusantara. I was not a TOP rank students, but in order to get free scholarship, somehow, I could passed the exam with grade A and continued with GPA 4.0. And she has been very supportive to have her children chasing their dreams in big cities.
We would say, our Mother, is our R.A. Kartini.
References :
<https://www.biography.com/people/raden-adjeng-kartini-37859>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soong_Ching-ling>
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