(This article was made for ISS Indonesia GMT Selection 2022)
The most common way to know someone better is to ask where are you from? Me, personally I found this question quite tricky to answer. Like a puzzle, I came from multicultural backgrounds that tangled with each other, where pieces by pieces describe me as a person. Let’s crack that puzzle!
My name is Dian Anggraini Pary Usamahu. When a baby is born, parents give the kid a name. A name is a form of hope and prayers. Hopefully, the kid that owned the name has a role, or traits like their given name. In case of mine, Dian means pelita (lamp) and Anggraini means abadi (eternal). My parents hope that I can light my surroundings eternally. In other words, my presence in this world can help my surroundings.
As a lamp, I need fuel to keep lighting others. Where does this fuel come from? The fuel that we talk about is IKIGAI (reason of being).During the time for searching IKIGAI. I spent a lot of time gaining experiences and digging dive into my childhood. I was born in Biak, Papua to an Ambonese-Ternate father and Chinese-Javanese mother. I spent my childhood moving from one city to another due to my fathers’ job. I have lived in Wamena, Makassar, Manado, Ternate, and Jogja (and hopefully Bintaro for ISS). This pushed me to become adaptable to new cultures and customs. I like to meet new people and learn from them, especially about their backgrounds, this helped me to see things from different perspectives. This also ignites my adventurous sense to try new things (challenges).
IKIGAI means the reason for being or something that makes us wake up every day. Something that makes our life worth living. To find that, I tried many things.
There are 10 rules of IKIGAI, and I unconsciously (before I know this concept) have been applying those rules.
Today I would like to highlight some stories that helped me find my IKIGAI.
When I was in uni, I was active in AIESEC UGM and do internships in various institutions from startups to corporations to government offices (KJRI Penang). I remember vividly when I was in AIESEC as team leader. My department is named International Relations and Exchange Quality. This department is responsible to built and maintaining partnerships with AIESEC entities abroad so we could bring people abroad to do internships in Jogja startups. Besides that, My department was also responsible to maintain relations between startups and the intern to make sure the intern's journey are fulfilled based on the exchange standards.
This is when things got so challenging. My team had to met the winter term goal of 2019, we had no significant partners, and one of my team members couldn't perform her best due to some circumstances. As a TL, I took a tep back to analyze the condition and formulate a strategy. I decided to boost up partnering by joining AIESEC events and groups, calling them daily, and promoting internship opportunities daily. Of course, I’m not alone, I delegate these responsibilities to my team member. I tried to adjust the jobs with their uni activities so they can still contribute to the winter goal. Alhamdulillah, our hardwork paid off. We can bring 3 interns from Vietnam, Tunisia, and Singapore. And we’ve built partnerships with AIESEC from several countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Netherland, and Singapore. We make sure to keep in touch so everything runs smoothly. One of the interns from Vietnam, during his internship journey in Jogja felt so enjoyed and fulfilled. He gave us a 10/10 exchange experience on exchange surveys. Even till now we still have good relations with him.
For me personally, this experience gave me some fulfillment in a way that it keeps me active outside my main academic activity and it feels so rewarded when interns really enjoy their life-changing journey. Little did I know, small help from me help them to find meaning in their life. Stepping out from AIESEC, I challenge myself to do an internship at Konsulat Jenderal Indonesia in Penang, Malaysia.
This is when finally IKIGAI becomes clearer to me. I was an immigration officer intern. Basically, a front-desk in immigration function where people come to apply for VISA, Permit, and those similar matters. Every person that come to the KJRI, met me first to clarify document requirements and their purpose to came to KJRI.
Most of the days were pretty hectic. I had to face many people from different cultural backgrounds, educations, and even generations. Most of them are immigrant workers from Indonesia, students, and tourists who applied VISA to come to Indonesia. For me as a front liner, it was challenging when I had to encounter some of the immigrant workers and elders. One time there was an immigrant worker that wanted to extend his permit in Penang. But he was lack some requirements. I tried to explain to them yet, but It was pretty confusing caused some of the documents are pretty hard to get. At the same time, there was a line of other people waiting for me to get their stuffs done. It happens quite often.
Frustrated? Yes. Yet as a front liner I have to put on my best smile, and calm down my frustration so it didn’t affect others--otherwise, it will lead to confusion & more frustration!. I tried my best to simplify things and explained to them and gave my contact if needed so they can ask me outside the office regarding some requirements. The man comes back and forth for 3 days. On day 3rd, finally, his document was issued, when he went out of the office with his mother he put on a big smile and said, “makasih ya, Dek”.
I also remember there was an old man, who wanted to dispatch his maid to umrah. One of the requirements is a letter from the employer (the old man). It has to be handwritten and signed. He got a pen and a blank piece of paper, ready to write down the letter as a given example on the wall. The sample letter was too small for him, and his hand, I remember was shaking.
I helped him to write down the letters then he gave me 20 RM (a relatively fair amount for me who was on a budget). I refused, “Tak payah Pakcik. (No, you don’t have to)”.
“Kenape? Adek dah bantu saya, saya bantu adek balik la (Why? You helped me so I helped you)” he insist.
“Tak pe. Saya bantu Pak Cik ni ikhlas. Tak payah Pak Cik. (No, I helped you sincerely. I don’t need any rewards).” I refused politely.
He still insists, but I keep politely refusing. He put back his money and with a big smile and said, “Terimakasih e (thank you).”. That was enough to make my day at peace.
Every morning I woke up, I always remember the smiles from whom I helped. Their happy expressions when their permit had issued (‘cause that is a serious thing--If they don’t they can get deported). My little contributions could gave big impact on their life. This becomes fuel for me--helping others (my IKIGAI).
I see my IKIGAI resonates with ISS profile. ISS itself has the motto: ‘people make places, places make people’. I believe IKIGAI doesn’t have to come from something grandiose, it comes from simple things from start in our life. Like ISS, the presence of ISS’s team makes places a better environment where work, think, and give. Which hopefully can increase the productivity or performance of the customers. One thing that I remember about ISS itself is ISS care about the people they support, always adding a human touch to create places that deliver and delight. What I understand as human touch here are generosity and sincerity, and with a smile yet still professional.
In daily life, the ISS team's presence is sometimes neglected. However, they play a crucial part in making sure the places are comfortable thus enhancing productivity. In fact, the ISS team is an integral part of the partners. When I go to some public places and I saw the ISS team there, I realize and become more grateful for how comfortable the places where they are at amidst the hecticness of the places. ISS helps others through its own role.
Outside of internship and academics, I regularly go to the gym and read. This helped to get in shape and freshen up my mind. I also like hiking and spending some time in nature in the park. In a community like a gym, I surrounded myself with highly dedicated people which helped me to keep my motivation. Recently, I tried to meditate to calm myself and be more mindful.
Sometime during the time that I spent in nature or gym, I reflected on my ‘multicultural’ journey. I’m lucky enough to get those exposures. I think as Indonesians, we stand out in some rules of IKIGAI.
Smile
Take it slow (alon-alon asal kelakon)
I found it personally helps me to soothe myself when I face stressful situations. Besides that, like a puzzle Indonesia is multicultural, the diversities tangled up with each other building a beautiful complete picture. This resonates with my background I come from different ethnicities. This also makes us have many options and views in approaching problems.
Last but not least, Indonesia is known for its generosity. Indonesians in common, like to help each other--even strangers. This makes me proud to be Indonesian. When I tried to dig deeper: it is my IKIGAI. Helping others.
I remember an old Javanese saying:
“Urip iku Urup”
Urip means life and urup means light. Like a lamp (red: Dian, Pelita), our life should give light to others. This means that our life should be useful.
