Impossible to Possible

We will never forget when the first time we taught this little girl. Two years ago, Faika won a Karate Championship in Gowa District, South Sulawesi. A consequence for this, she got a scholarship for three months studying at Rumah Belajar Bersama.

At that time, Faika chose to join English class eventhough she still couldn’t read well. ‘Why does Faika not want to take Math class?’, a question to Nurlaelah, Faika’s mother. Without hesitation, her mother simply answered, ‘She wants English.’ It was a hard decision to accept because we knew that Faika still needed to learn to read and write in Indonesian before reading and writing in English.

Because we didn’t want to make Faika disappointed, we let her come together with all of her friends who got medals. It was the first time we taught English without books in order to make Faika enjoy the class. We just talked simple words, singing and playing games. It was all about.

After a month, Faika felt bored with the lessons and suddently asked us to write English words, phrases and sentences on the board. It was a big surprised for us because a kid who was still learning to read and write in Indonesian wanted something more in English. You know, what? Faika could write all the teacher’s writings on her notebook.

From this experience, we were not only just very happy but also very proud of her. Something that we imagined was impossible is possible.

Zulkarnain Patwa