Hello everyone! This is my first post on my second blog. Yeah, I used to have a blog, but due to personal reasons I had to delete it, but now here I am again! Without further ado, let me just take you to one of the most exciting and inspiring experiences I've ever had in life.
I've been enjoying TED Talks for so long. I've always been amazed by how professional the speakers are, how they can speak clearly, smoothly, and don't stutter, and how neat the presentation slides are. However, I had only watched them online on Youtube and I had never had a chance to see them live, until three days ago.
I was invited as an attendee of the 12th TEDxJakarta on 10th June 2017. I got the invitation through a registration process. TEDxJakarta opened attendee registration for two weeks, from 8th May to 22nd May, but I didn't know anything about it until the last day. I hesitated at first, because the registration form had a lot of questions; from our background to our charity and volunteering experience. I even closed the page because I thought I wouldn't make it. But then I felt it could be my only chance and this event most likely would happen only once this year, so in the end I gave it shot. Still, after submitting, I thought I wouldn't pass because I didn't think I lived up to the standard. Much to my surprise, on the announcement day, I got the invitation email. I was very happy and thrilled! The fact that they only chose 400 out of 1369 people made me feel so honored and thankful. At that moment I thought, "I mustn't screw this. I need to be there." So finally there I was at Jakarta Art Building, canceling my two other occasions for TEDxJakarta.
The 12th TEDxJakarta theme was Niyata, the Sanskrit root of the word 'nyata' in Bahasa, which literally means 'real'. The talks were divided into three sessions; Ni, Ya, and Ta, and there were eight speakers. I wrote about each of the talks below (but if you don't like to read then you can wait for the videos to be uploaded on the
website)
Ni
The first session was Ni, which means 'into' or 'within'. This session consisted of three speakers; Firly Savitri, Bunda Iffet, and Faye Simanjuntak.
Firly Savitri
Firly is a founder of Ilmuwan Muda Indonesia (Indonesian Young Scientist) or IMI for short. She left her job to create an organization to help students understand and love science. She and her colleagues created Lab In A Box to conduct experiments with the kids. The experiments and tools are actually simple and pretty basic, but her strength is the phrase 'tidak apa-apa' or 'it's okay' in English. She tries to put in people's mind that it's okay to fail. It's okay to not reach your goal at first try. It's okay to keep trying over and over again. Because if you stop trying when you fail at something, you will never get what you always want.
Bunda Iffet
She was probably the most famous person among the eight speakers, because she is the manager of a well-known band Slank and is also the mother of Bimbim, the drummer. She was already 80 by the time time she stepped on the stage, yet she was as healthy and strong as ever. She told her story as a manager and as a mom for the band. What caught me the most was when she shared her experience about caring and nurturing the band while they were suffering from drug addiction. I believe it was hard for her, but she remained strong. She didn't give up on her kids. She didn't even let them go to and stay at the rehabilitation center alone; she tried to cure the kids herself, and she did. She made it. All Slank members recovered. However, the struggle didn't stop. After treating the addiction, she had to help bring back their memories because they also suffered from drug-induced amnesia. She stayed through it all and up until now, she still manages the band in a very motherly way.
Faye Simanjuntak
If the MC didn't mention her age, I wouldn't know that she was fifteen. I repeat, FIFTEEN. She was so mature, both physically and mentally. Watching her on the stage, I felt so ashamed of myself. I am eight years older than her, yet not as brave or bold. She founded Rumah Faye, a non-governmental organization fighting human trafficking. The organization aims to prevent, rescue, and rehabilitate the victims of trafficking. She had the idea of building the organization when she met one of the victims, and the harsh truth was that the trafficking happened in a big city, in Jakarta. The trafficker casually approached the girl and offered her a job. Little did she know that she was about to be sold. Fortunately, she was able to run away and eventually met Faye. Listening to the story of the victim made me wince. Human trafficking happens around us. It's closer than we thought.
Ya
The second part of the talks was Ya, which means 'implore; attain'. The speakers were Anindya Krisna, Dian Ara, and Mirza Kusrini.
Anindya Krisna
I've always loved dance, be it traditional, modern, classical, hip hop, ballroom, anything. However, I've never watched any live dance performance except for hip hop/pop/modern dance which can be found easily in public places or at schools and colleges. At TEDxJakarta, I had the chance to watch beautiful ballet performances by Anin and her students. They were gorgeous and graceful. Besides performing, Anin also told us about her journey to become a professional ballerina. It took years of serious and rough training to be one. I was surprised that dancing could be a regular job with regular salary. Anin already had a great position as a professional ballet dancer abroad, but she chose to leave her job and went back to Indonesia to teach and spread the information that being a dancer can be profitable and worthy too.
Dian Ara
Oh God she was the funniest speaker that day. She recounted her journey on to be a game designer. Despite her cheerfulness, her life wasn't easy back then. She even had to find scholarship to continue studying in high school because her parents could not afford the school tuition and she had to encounter a painful divorce with her ex-husband, which made her fly from Surabaya to Bandung to achieve a better life. All of her hard work is now paid off and we can see her creation in games such as Football Saga 2, Angkot The Game, and Miku Pulang.
Mirza Kusrini
She came from my university, Bogor Agricultural University. She is a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Forestry. Her specialization is herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles. There aren't many herpetologists in Indonesia, so it is hard to record the population of amphibians and reptiles in this vast country. Due to the lack of the researchers, Bu Mirza asked us, all of us including you who's reading, to participate in her citizen science project. She wants everyone, especially who travels a lot, to report and take pictures of amphibians and reptiles in Indonesia and post them on
Amfibi Reptil Kita (Our Amphibians and Reptiles).
Ta
We've come to the last session of the day, Ta, which means 'womb; warrior'. The speakers for the last round were Intan Suci Nurhati and Adi Utarini.
Intan Suci Nurhati
The one I was waiting for the most, because she is an oceanographer, a diver, and a climate scientist (seriously though, she got everything I want in life), and I wasn't disappointed. She explained about El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which brought massive damage to our country in 1997-1998. It didn't only impact the earth, but also the society. Therefore, the need to study about climate is highly necessary, so we can stay alert and overcome natural disasters in the best way possible. She studies climate through the ocean, particularly coral reefs. There was a footage of her and her colleagues took a part of coral reefs to be examined later on. The sample was then taken to the lab and was analyzed thoroughly. The results were used to predict future climate possibility. She showed us that the ocean is not only for the eye and recreational purposes, but is also for the mind and academic concerns.
Adi Utarini
Bu Adi's idea is insane. Instead of exterminating mosquito to prevent dengue fever, she breeds them. Yup, you read that right, but she breeds them with bacteria-induced individuals. She uses wolbachia bacteria and injects them to the eggs of mosquito. This wolbachia creature can minimize the dengue virus in mosquito. She showed us her works in Yogyakarta. Hundreds of regions had already joined her project and it showed positive outcome. The number of dengue fever sufferers decreased and more communities ask for her help to avert the fever in their regions.
That was my experience as an attendee of the 12th TEDxJakarta. There's one thing I really love about TED Talks, any TED talk. It is that we are there to listen. I know it's necessary to be critical, active, and responsive, but sometimes people tend to focus more on how to respond, rather than to fully absorb what the other person says. Because sometimes ...no. Most of the time, we forget to listen.
Menginspirasi sekali kakak
ReplyDeletethank you miki!
Deletea great piece you got there!
ReplyDeletekeep on writing
thank you RR!
DeleteRere hebat, rere boleh!
ReplyDeletethank you. bang amrey juga hebat!
DeleteWhat is it about? Personal experience?
ReplyDelete