Jejen has her eyes on the horizon

Jejen has her eyes on the horizon

By Dewi Anggraeni

MELBOURNE (JP): She comes across as a naturally happy young
woman, welcoming and cheerful. But if you are looking for a
beaming face emanating the pride of a recent personal
achievement, you will still be looking. She keeps a relatively
low profile.

Even in this era of competitiveness, twenty years old Jejen
Johari is no ordinary young woman. Last month she was awarded the
Institute Award from RMIT University in Melbourne for her
outstanding overall academic record and personal qualities. She
completed her two years Advanced Diploma of Civil Engineering
course at RMIT University last year with an outstanding academic
record.

Being an excellent student has not stopped her from loving a
rigorous life. Jejen has also been a very active member of the
RMIT community. She regularly contributed during RMIT's Open Day
and Women in Engineering programs. She organized several student
activities involving international and local students. She gave
inspirational talks to Year 10 and 11 students.

She stood out as an energetic member of the RMIT Training
Center for Infrastructure Technology Student and Staff
Consultative Committee.

The university's Vice Chancellor, Professor David Beanland,
believes that Jejen is an ideal role model for female students
both in Indonesia and Australia. "RMIT University is proud to
make this award to Ms. Johari," said Professor Beanland.

Winning the Institute Award has not shaken her solid sense of
reality; and her feet are still firmly on the ground. While she
has worked with a Melbourne-based international consulting
engineering company, Scott Wilson Irwin Johnson, a work
experience scholarship she won during the second year of her
civil engineering course, Jejen does not turn up her nose at
ordinary manual labor. Having now embarked on her degree course,
she finds occasional work at a restaurant a useful source of
pocket money.

Jejen loves Melbourne, her temporary home since three and a
half years ago. Leaving after Year 11 at SMA Dharma Jaya senior
high school in Jakarta, Jejen began her Foundation Year, before
enrolling on her Advanced Diploma Course, at RMIT.

Life however, has not been plain sailing.

"I very nearly did not continue my studies here when the
economic crisis hit badly at home in 1997, during my foundation
year. I knew my being here would be a terrible burden on my
parents's finances."

Her family's determination somehow to keep her in Australia
paid off, because she subsequently won a partial scholarship from
the Center for International Students' Scholarship, that is
paying for her tuition fees.

Sharing a house in Melbourne's inner suburb with two other
Indonesian students, Jejen mixes socially with Australian and
other non-Indonesian as well as Indonesian students. Apart from
her occasional restaurant work, when she is not studying, she
also plays tennis.

When the question of racism was raised, Jejen made a point of
telling The Jakarta Post that in her three and a half years she
has never experienced any racist incidents, on or off campus. In
general, she is happy with her life in this city. Her neighbors
are close and always ready to help.

"We have a very good landlord, who lives next door. Our
neighbor on the other side is a handyman. He will happily
come to fix anything that needs repair. We feel very safe here."

She revealed that originally she had wanted to go to Germany,
having been led to believe that was the place for studying
engineering and technological courses.

"But my parents would not let me. They thought it was too
far," Jejen said. In retrospect, Australia obviously has been a
good choice.

Like many young people, Jejen has an eye beyond the horizon.

"By the end of next year, I will have completed my studies. I
would like to travel and seek work in several countries before
returning home to Indonesia."

Before we parted, Jejen let out another secret. She has not
told her parents, brother or sister, about the award. Let them be
surprised or tell them beforehand. She was still considering how
they would react to the surprise of reading about it in the Post.