A Journey of Rizky, a brave and wise 10 years old, from the north of Indonesia, Aceh Utara

Pematang Alam Desa Paya Bakong, Aceh Utara

I still remember it like yesterday,  a little boy that taught me about perseverance, hard work and continues learning. His name is Rizky. He was my student yet he taught me about life more than I did to him.

It started when I was informed by the central library of Aceh Utara that they were going to hold a story-telling competition in April. It was a month left to the competition. I was utterly concern with the time for preparation because at that time our team, Pengajar Muda Aceh Utara, was having a project called Inspiring-Camp. So, I was afraid I couldn't support my student in the time being. Since, the library really encouraged us to join the competition, I decided to try.

Thankfully, I was helped by my fellow teacher, Pak Ruslan, to pick our representative. At first, we had so many names. At that time, Pak Ruslan and I agreed to have an open competition in the school to pick the representative. So, we called all of the students who want to compete and gave them the materials of story telling. We gave them a week to learn the materials. In the next week they needed to re-tell the story in front of other teachers.

A week passed by, one by one decided to give up because the materials were just too hard to remember. Until two left, one is Syibral (4 grader) and Rizky (4 grader) who still decided to join the competition. Blown by their will, Pak Ruslan and I decided to train both of them for the competition. Each day spent with Pak Ruslan reciting the story to Rizky and Zibran. Near the competition D-day, Zibran felt the pressure to recite the materials and decided to give up. Rizky also felt the pressure to remember and  recite, but he decided to keep trying. His mom told me that each night Rizky read the materials all over again, even asked her mom to review his method of reciting. After talking, to his parents, I was fully decided to train Rizky to win. (I can't help my competitive side :D)

Rizki recites the story for competition

Since then, I decided to take the reciting process to ashes. Rizky and I spent the days drawing about the story he's going to tell, just like a panel in comic. After we finished drawing, I asked rizky to tell me the story with his own words. Since the story was in Bahasa Indonesia, it was a bit hard for Rizky to express himself, since his mother language is Aceh. But my diligent student didn't have "give up" on his dictionary so he kept going, not once stopping.

At first, we watched lot of story telling, so Rizky could get inspired on how to express the body language in the story. Then, I showed him how I would do if I were the "story-teller", then I asked him to explore the story with himself. I remembered asking Rizky, "Rizky can you tell me the story just by your expression and body language, without any sound coming out?" It was his first time doing it, but he done it very well. I was and am still proud of him.

Time passed and finally we arrived at the competition D-day. Our road to the competition was not easy, literally. My old-motorcycle decided to stop for no reason, so we had to push the motorcycle to the nearest bike shop. Just when, our motorcycle finally on, we were stopped by a group of angry yet lazy cows slept on the street blocking our road. So we had to carefully hush the cows. It took us nearly two hours to finally reach the venue.

My teammates and their students were already there. Rizky bravely introduced himself to my teammates and their students as well as other competitors from prestigeous school in Aceh Utara. Then first day of competition run smooth until the committee informed me that we had to prepare  new story to tell tomorrow for the semi-final. How scared I was, when I heard the news. I asked why it was not explained in the first place. Then, the committee said that they already gave me the details and I probably missed that detail. I was shocked and devastated because of my fault, the chance of my students winning becoming impossible.

I told Rizky after the competition, I asked him,"should we give up? We didn't have any new materials and time for tomorrow." but Rizky said "Bu Nurul, don't worry, we just need to try our best. I want to try." His world was like a slap in my face. My student asked me to not give up, how can I give up on him. Then we went searching for new materials in the library. We went to our village directly and decided to practice.

After lot of discussion, we chose the easiest one, the one that Rizky already watched in the TV, "Bawang merah and Bawang Putih". we drafted the story together until late at night. But we got another challenge when Rizky try to remember each word by word in Bahasa. So then, I finally decided to make the dialogue become Aceh. So, Rizky could remember it easier. Since the judges were Acehnese also, I think it will be unique and hopefully can add additional value to the story. Here and there we put some humor and ad-lips in Aceh to make the story funnier.

I would be lying, if I said there wasn't a moment of doubt in me. A moment when my perfectionist self afraid for him. Afraid for the what ifs in the competition. The side of me who asked to give up when facing things unpredictable.
There was a moment when I asked Rizky again,"Are you sure you want to do this, Even though you might fail?"

Rizki and I on the first day of competition

But Rizky answered me with a burning passion, "Teacher, even if I fail tomorrow, I still want to try. I want to try. Believe me, I can do it." It was his word left me in tears. It made me reflect to those time when I cowardly chose to give up than fight. The time when I chose the easy path not the hard path. But this 10 years old boy, who grow up in the most underdeveloped area, an area I once thought need help in education, showed me they still raised a warrior. A 10 years old warrior that has maturity goes beyond his own age. A warrior who remind me that Aceh, that Indonesia, still bear and raise a warrior like Cut Nyak Dien, Teuku Umar and Teuku Cik Di Tiro.                                                                   

After practice, it was 10 PM. Rizky's home is so far from my home, he needed to pass jungles and dangerous bridges. when I asked him should I help him come home, he said "Teacher, I used to pass the jungles in the night and I am not afraid. I will ride my bicycle very fast. See you tomorrow, teacher."

 (TO BE CONTINUED)