BOGOR, WEST JAVA — A student who strives to learn and study hard, wants to one day when successful to give ‘results’ to both parents. Proud surprises such as achieving the highest grades, achievements, and confidence in the community are beautiful gifts for a father and mother. Unfortunately, such an image has run aground for Arwan Priyanto Pamungkas, a 3rd grade student at SMART Ekselensia Indonesia school in Parung, Bogor.
“After my father died, my mother became a father figure. In my view, Mama is like a very strong, powerful woman. I want to prove to Mama, to people, that without a father figure, I can be successful. I can raise my family’s status. Raise the family’s finances,” said Arwan, Thursday (3/21/2024).
After three years in boarding school, he feels very at home and is actually happy because of the many positive things he gets. In addition to the many disciplines studied, he also gets cognitive values outside of class hours every day.
“I learn a lot here.
I’m more independent. More confident too. It’s very different from before,” she continued.
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Like other SMART Ekselensia students, Arwan gets the opportunity to go home one to two times a year. To cure his homesickness, sometimes Arwan’s mother comes to school. In fact, this can be done almost once a month. This is probably because Arwan’s house is not far from the school. It only takes about 15 to 20 minutes by motorcycle.
Apart from being a place to let go of homesickness, the two of them tell each other stories. His mom tells him about what’s going on at home. Likewise, Arwan shared the ups and downs of the past month in the dormitory and school. Mama always asks if there are any problems in the dormitory or school, with friends or teachers. At that moment, the two of them poured their hearts out to each other. Their meeting was then closed with advice and motivation from Mama to Arwan.
“I often talk about my studies,” Arwan continued with a faint laugh.
“It’s a five-year acceleration here. So the lessons are also fast. I was surprised at first. But thank God, now I can adjust,” he continued.
The intense learning activities have not been added to the dormitory activities which may feel even more intense. Not to mention there are still memorization targets. Of course, if you are not a selected student and the strength of support from parents, it may be difficult for ordinary children to keep up with all that.
According to Arwan, currently what he has shown his mother is that his academic grades are among the highest in the class. This is a source of pride for his mother.
According to Gusmiyati (49), Arwan’s mother, another thing that has changed about her second son is his confidence. This was felt when Arwan returned home. He is more often the imam of the congregational prayer with his family, leading the recitation of prayers and the Qur’an. In addition, he is now also the family spokesperson to communicate with local residents. Arwan’s involvement in community activities has earned him the trust of local residents.
Born as the second boy after his brother, who is still in the third year of high school, Arwan is even more driven to not want to burden his older brother who is responsible for being the head of the family. Meanwhile, his younger sister, who is still five years old, really needs the love and attention of Mama and a father figure from her older siblings.
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In addition to lovingly caring for her little one, Gusmiyati’s daily activities at home include making snacks, such as risol, pastel, and the like. She never has a steady income from her baking. The reason is that she produces the cakes only when there are orders coming in. If there is excess production, she stores it in a frozen storage box to be sold as the frozen version.
Usually, during Ramadan, Gusmiyati sells cakes for takjil on the side of the road. However, in Ramadan 1445 H, because her rented house is quite far from the road, she no longer opens her stall for takjilan.
“If it’s not Ramadan, my first child usually brings the cakes to school. He has done this every day since he first entered high school. Since I moved here (the current rent), I haven’t opened my own shop. I usually make them to order,” Gusmiyati explained.
From her baking income, she has been supporting her three children for three years, after the death of her husband in 2021. Gusmiyati said that her husband used to be an employee. Until finally he was affected by a reduction in staff. After that, no more work came his way, plus the pandemic outbreak came to attack, making it even more difficult to find work. Meanwhile, Gusmiyati is only at home being a housewife.
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To make matters worse, Gusmiyati’s husband developed diabetes and died just a month after Arwan started studying at SMART Ekselensia.
Of course Gusmiyati felt devastated at that time. During the difficult times of the pandemic, no jobs were open, everyone was encouraged to stay at home, while her first child was in high need of the first fee to enter high school. In addition, her last child, who is still two years old, also needs a lot of attention from his mother.
“At first, I couldn’t make anything. Then I had to find out how to make cakes, look up how to do it on Google. This is probably what I can do at home while taking care of the kids. Finally I chose this cake food,” she said.
One thing she is very grateful for is that her middle child, Arwan, is a student at SMART EI.
“Alhamdulillah, it really helped my second child to enter SMART EI. If not, I don’t know where the money would come from to send him to school. I am proud of Arwan. He went to school far away from his parents and has achieved great results. In terms of grades, his school reports are also good. When he comes home, his confidence has also increased. He is not as insecure as he used to be,” he explained.
Arwan admitted that the subject area that always received high ratings while at SMART EI was language. Both Indonesian and Arabic. In addition, the subject that received high scores after that was Social Science. This may be in line with his ability to socialize with the people around him.
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His favorite hobby is playing futsal. As for dormitory activities, he admits that he likes Quran recitation and book studies the most. He feels solemn that he can sit for a long time during these activities. His aspiration to become a doctor may not be in line with his current study skills. But he is confident that one day he will be able to realize it.
“The scholarship helped me the most. Ya Allah, I never imagined that private school fees were that good. Arwan learns school lessons as usual, at SMART there are also strong religious lessons and also ethical and social values. The important thing is that the children are happy and successful, and can raise the family’s status. I can only pray,” said Gusmiyati.
Furthermore, Arwan has a dream to reward Mama with memorizing 30 juz. That is also what Mama hopes for Arwan. Every time he comes home or visits, Mama always encourages Arwan to maintain and increase his memorization of the Qur’an. Because it can be a strong provision for the next life.
“What I still aspire to give to Mama is memorizing 30 juz,” said Arwan.
SMART Ekselensia Indonesia for Arwan is a place that protects him from the negative effects of the outside environment. He admitted that he was very grateful to be able to enter this free school based on productive waqf built by Dompet Dhuafa. (Dompet Dhuafa)
Text and Photo: Riza Muthohar
Editor: Dhika Prabowo