so please, be thankful (one true story that perfectly resembles a melodrama)

it was a Tuesday afternoon when I had this light chit chat with some friends in campus.

then one friend opened up a new, shocking topic.

"Jadi gini loh, ada anak 2008 nunggak duit kuliah sampe 34 juta."

"Hah siapa?"

"Emm jangan sebut nama deh. Gak enak."

"Demi apa 34 juta? Kok bisa?"

"Iya kan denda 50% tiap kali telat bayar kan."

"Iya, jadi aslinya tuh 19 juta, kena denda 15 juta. Bahkan uang pangkal kuliah aja belom lunas itu sebenernya. Tapi sama rektorat dikasih dispensasi bayarnya gausah pake denda, tapi paling lambat besok Kamis. Gila aja."

"Buset ya susah sih kalo 19 juta cuma dalam 2 hari..."

"Eh tunggu deh. Kalo belom bayar uang kuliah kan gabisa ngisi IRS semester depan kan?"

"Katanya sih dia minta keringanan terus dan untungnya dikasih sama rektorat."

"Kenapa dia gak minta keringanan aja dari awal masuk? Bukannya bisa minta dikurangin sampe 2jutaan?"

"Gini loh, tadinya kakaknya nyanggupin biaya kuliah segitu. Cuma ternyata bapaknya sakit dan duit keluarga semuanya kepake buat bapaknya kan. Dan gaji kakaknya pun gak segitu banyak."

"Aduh..."

"Padahal anaknya pinter banget loh."

"Nah terus kenapa gak minta tolong kampus? Apa alumni gitu? Atogak minjem deh dari bank."

... then the story went on until our next class started. I kept on thinking about this anonymous person. I couldn't imagine how would it feel to be in his shoes. in my last post I blabbered out about how terrible I felt about my recent study. yet after I heard his story... damn. I was too fugin whiny.

then Wednesday night, I was studying for a test and going online when I saw a notes tagged to me. please read it here. you will get a very complete explanation about the whole case.

however I'll sum up some important points here. one friend from 2008 batch wrote this and asked all of us to spread it out. and I was like, totally speechless while reading the whole story about this person my friends and I had talked about.

his family lives in Manado. his mom passed away when he was in 2nd grade of high school. his dad is terribly sick. he has two older sibling. the oldest is already married with a child, and sadly, the child is also sick. the second one is only a mere employee somewhere.

I finally found out his name and felt like, OH, THAT BOY! I knew him! then I noticed that I barely saw him since the 2nd term. I remembered asking for his signature when I was a freshman (my freshman assignment included collecting 100 signatures of seniors from all batch). my first impression to him, he looked quiet, shy, decent, just a plain boy like others. I remembered that he always wore a grey hoodie, that was how I could recognize him easily. then I started to think, Iya juga sih emang bener ya. Di kantin pun udah bener2 gapernah keliatan. Kirain dia udah gak di UI lagi.

anyways, the notes told more about this person.

why he didn't show himself up in canteen? because he didn't have enough money for lunch.

why he rarely came to class at the first place? because he didn't even have money to pay for the transport.

why he always wore the same clothes? why he always looked messy? because he didn't have time to wash and iron his clothes, because he spent the whole day doing house chores for his family.

yet with all these burdens, he is still considered smart. geez. I don't understand. I don't understand, how could he be this tough?

fellow readers, I'm telling you this true story in order to help this charming-brained student getting back his seat in class, something that he really deserves. I would be very happy if you want to help him. any kind of help will be fullheartedly appreciated. you can send some help here :

Mandiri 165-00-000-40247 a. n. Sarah Hapsari

BCA 2671502240 a. n. Elisa Ermulina

BNI 0165577354 a. n. Titian Ratu

another way to give a hand : my seniors from 2008 batch are holding a garage sale this Sunday (April 3rd, 2011) at Gelora Bung Karno. feel free to pay a visit there, anything you buy might help this boy to get back his future :)