Archive for January, 2007

Pak Sugimin, Pahlawan Tanpa Tanda Jasa

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

Pak Sugimin adalah guru
matematikaku di SMP dulu. Lelaki setengah baya ini berpenampilan sederhana,
dengan kacamata dan baju safari, sebagaimana umumnya seorang guru di sekolah menengah
negeri. Bagi sebagian besar murid-muridnya, Pak Sugimin cukup disegani. Bukan
hanya karena matematika adalah pelajaran yang sulit dan membuat dahi
berkerut-kerut, tetapi beliau punya ekspektasi yang besar terhadap
murid-muridnya.

 
Kadang beliau tak tahan
menumpahkan rasa kecewanya saat nilai ujian kami anjlok. Masih kuingat waktu
pertama kali berkenalan dengan rumus tangen-sinus-kosinus, mungkin saking
frustasinya melihat hasil ulangan murid-muridnya, beliau berkata, “Wah, kalau
begini kalian cuma bisa jadi supir becak! Kalau kalian mau jadi pilot pesawat harus
ngerti rumus-rumus ini!!” Tentu saja keluh-kesah beliau dianggap angin lalu
oleh murid-muridnya yang baru memasuki masa puber. Saat itu rasanya lebih
menarik menghapalkan lirik step-by-step
New Kids on the Block, ketimbang mencoba memahami mana yang disebut sinus mana
yang kosinus…

 
Tapi bukan itu saja yang membuat
Pak Sugimin patut dikagumi. Belakangan kutahu kalau Pak Sigimin sudah lebih
dari 15 tahun mengelola SMP terbuka. Bersama beberapa orang guru, Pak Sugimin
bekerja ekstra untuk mengumpulkan dana dan mengajar anak-anak dari golongan tidak
mampu, tapi memiliki semangat tinggi untuk sekolah. Mereka ini anak-anak yang
sehari-hari berjualan koran, mengamen di pinggir jalan, menyemir sepatu,
berjualan di pasar, jadi kuli angkut, dan buruh kasar lainnya. Mereka yang
punya angan-angan mendapatkan ijazah SMP untuk sekedar bisa melamar sebagai office boy atau janitor di perkantoran.
Mereka yang punya angan-angan untuk bisa memperbaiki status keluarga dan tidak
dianggap sebagai sampah masyarakat…

 
Tidak ada yang meminta Pak
Sugimin untuk bekerja dobel tanpa bayaran. Saat beliau hanya berkewajiban
mengajar di pagi hari, maka beliau menghabiskan waktu sorenya untuk mengajar di
sekolah terbuka. Kalau hari-hari kerja tidak lagi memungkinkan, maka hari sabtu
dan minggu beliau abdikan untuk sekolah terbuka. Hebatnya lagi, tidak hanya
matematik, tapi beliau bisa mengajarkan mata pelajaran apapun, karena tidak
jarang guru yang bersangkutan berhalangan hadir. “Saya tidak tega kalau mereka
datang sementara tidak ada guru yang mengajar,” tuturnya.

Hingga hari ini Pak Sugimin
tetap setia mengabdikan hidupnya untuk mereka, murid-muridnya. Kebanggaan jelas
terdengar saat beliau berkata, “Tahun ajaran ini ada 79 murid dan semua
mendapatkan baju seragam, tas dan perlengkapan menulis, dan buku ajar. Untung
guru-guru di sekolah kita tidak berkeberatan ruang kelas dipakai untuk sekolah
terbuka di sore hari. Pendanaan memang tidak selalu mudah, tapi insya Allah
kami akan terus berusaha.”

 
Tidak ada yang memberi beliau
penghargaan atas ratusan murid yang akhirnya berhasil mendapatkan ijazah.
Memang bukan penghargaan semacam itu yang beliau harapkan. “Kebahagiaan saya
adalah saat mereka datang dan mengatakan mereka sudah bisa bekerja formal
dengan bekal ijazah yang mereka dapatkan,” kata beliau dengan mata berbinar
saat menceritakan pengalaman mantan murid-muridnya yang sudah berhasil.
“Beberapa dari mereka yang sudah lulus berusaha membantu pendanaan sekolah
terbuka semampu mereka. Saya sangat bangga terhadap mereka…”

 
Pak Sugimin dan guru-guruku,
engkaulah pahlawan tanpa tanda jasa yang sesungguhnya. Suri tauladan yang
nyata. Putih rambutmu tidak menghalangimu untuk terus mengabdi kepada kami,
murid-muridmu. Semoga Allah membalas pengabdian dan keikhlasan kalian dengan
surga, insya Allah…

 

Note: Pak Sugimin mengajar di SMPN
158 Pulogadung, Jakarta Timur dan SMP terbuka di sekolah yang sama. 

 

 

Don’t dream it’s over!

Friday, January 26th, 2007

It’s not the song title from Crowded House, but it’s my model story. Prediction models are interesting tools in medical practice as they can help you diagnosing the presence of a disease or predict the prognosis of a disease, with very simple questionnaire items or routine lab test.

The development of the model itself is supposed to be simple: select the predictors, fit the model, check its diagnostic accuracy, assess its internal validation, correct the optimism, and finally, validate the model in other data before you apply it in general population. If you wish you can have extra step to simplify the model into score chart, so it’s very practical in daily practice.

It will be nice to have a universal and simple model for occupational asthma that you wish to apply everywhere. However, in reality, when you have data from different countries, when you have more than 1 supervisor and statistician, then the modeling is not easy anymore. So, at this moment, I am dreaming that by the end of this week it will be finished! Finish the model, finish the manuscript and go on with my next model… I wish…

Mama

Sunday, January 21st, 2007

Very nice lyrics by Il Divo, view their live performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2KACpO7eQ0

Mama thank you for who I am
Thank you for all the things I’m not
Forgive me for the words unsaid
And for the times
I forgot
Mama remember all my life
You showed me love, you sacrificed
Think of those young and early days
How I’ve changed
Along the way (along the way)

Bridge:
And I know you believed
And I know you had dreams
And I’m sorry it took all this time to see
That I am where I am because of your truth
And I miss you , I miss you

Mama forgive the times you cried
Forgive me for not making right
All of the storms I may have caused
And I’ve been wrong
Dry your eyes (dry your eyes)

Bridge :
And I know you believed
And I know you had dreams
And I’m sorry it took all this time to see
That I am where I am because of your truth
And I miss you , I miss you

Mama I hope this makes you smile
I hope you’re happy with my life
At peace with every choice I made
How I’ve changed
Along the way (along the way)
Cause I know you believed in all of my dreams
And I owe it all to you, mama

Blood donation

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

During the last holiday season there was a very interesting ads in the radio
"Not everyone like to have the same gift over and over again, but… I do. I have received 7 blood transfusions. If you don’t give the same gift, Iwon’t be able to say thank you now.."

I do believe that blood donation is one of the best gift a person could give to someone else. It simply save lives… But believe me it’s not easy to donate your blood, at least not in Indonesia…

2003, Sanquin bloedbank, Rotterdam
"We’re sorry, you have to wait 7 months after travelling from Indonesia, before you’ll be able to donate your blood"
"Why?"
"Well, Indonesia is a malaria endemic area…"

2005, Sanquin bloedbank, Utrecht
After waiting more than 7 months, I got an invitation letter from the blood bank, to have a blood test for blood donation. I was excited, until the doctor said
"We’re sorry, we couldn’t have your blood…"
"Why? I’ve stayed here for more than 7 months?"
"Well, you were born in Indonesia, we have to do a specific test for Malaria but unfortunatelly the test was not available at the moment… But in case we need more blood, we’ll contact you. Thank you anyway for your willingness to donate…"

Today, Jan 2007, Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal
"Did you travell outside Canada within the past 56 days?"
"No"
"Ok, please fill in this form and wait in the waiting room until the nurse call you for further interview, and have a nice day…"
There was I, waiting for almost 1 hour before a nurse checked my form.
"Hmm, you have resided in Western Europe for more than 6 months?"
"Yes, 2 years and 10 months…"
"Well, then you could not give your blood.."
"What? Why?"
"Do you know about the cow disease?" Then she gave me a pamphlet of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mentioning that in recent years they found new variant of CJd in Western Europe. "You could read it and you don’t have to try to donate your blood, because you’re not elligible…"
"Well, what about people in the Netherlands who donate their blood?"
"It’s not good enough!"
I was speechless. I wanna yell at her, "Do I look like someone who has mentality disorder? Crazy cow disease, come on!"

The whole day I was thinking about this. I regularly donate my blood for PMI in Jakarta, and I couldn’t tell why PMI does not apply such a strict rule to have blood donors? Do they really check on HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis for every donor? What happen to all recipient, most of them are leukemic children  in pediatric hospital, do they have any problem due to blood transfussion? Do we have any report on that? "Do no harm", is it the principle in patient care? Why Indonesia is so far behind?  Or simply there are more demands than donors? Why, why, why… I think I know the answers, but at this moment I just couldn’t wait to go back home and donate my blood and get a bowl of warm noddle soup with boiled egg, and hot chocolate in return…

Andai Aku Besar Nanti

Monday, January 8th, 2007

 Mom_lala_dad_1

Ada tiga pertanyaan wajib yang selalu Mama tanya kalau aku telepon ke Jakarta. Walaupun aku telepon hampir setiap minggu,  dan putri sulungnya ini hampir kepala tiga, urutan pertanyaan beliau tidak pernah berubah…
Pertama, "Halo Eva, bagaimana apa kamu sehat?"
Kedua, "Apa makanan cukup? Jangan lupa makan supaya tidak sakit…"
Ketiga, "Bagaimana sekolahnya? Semoga lancar ya. Maaf Mama nggak bisa bantu apa-apa kecuali doakan kamu dari jauh…"

Bapak jarang bicara kalau aku telepon, katanya supaya Mama dan adik-adik bisa ngobrol puas denganku. Walau tidak sering, tapi Bapak juga punya kalimat yang sama setiap kali sms. Seperti pagi ini, "Halo apa kabar Non? Bapak, mama dan keluarga di Jakarta sehat, semoga kamu juga sehat di sana…"

Benar kata pepatah, kasih sayang orang tua untuk anak sepanjang masa, tak terukur, betapapun besarnya si anak, di mata mereka kita tetap anak-anak kecil yang harus senantiasa dijaga dan diayomi…

So, I write this blog for my Mom and Dad, eventhough they will never read it…

Andai Aku Besar Nanti
Sung by Sherina

Andai, aku tlah dewasa
Apa yang kan ku katakan
Untukmu idolaku tersayang, ayah…
Ooo andai, usiaku berubah
Kubalas cintamu buda
Pelitaku, penerang jiwaku dalam setiap waktu

REFF. Oo, kutahu kau berharap dalam doamu
Kutahu kau berjaga dalam langkahmu
Kutahu slalu cinta dalam senyum-mu
Oo Tuhan Kau kupinta, bahagiakan mereka sepertiku…

Andai aku tlah dewasa
Ingin aku persembahkan
Semurni cintaku, setulus kasih sayangmu
Kau slalu kucinta

Terima kasih ayah, terima kasih bunda…

Happy New Year 2007!

Monday, January 1st, 2007

Alhamdulillah, that’s all I have to say to end 2006… Indeed, we have to look down to realize how lucky and blessed we are. The first morning of 2007 I watched "Brooke Ellison Story" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Ellison) directed by Christopher Reeve (R.I.P). It’s a very inspiring story about courage of a quadriplegic (paralysed from the neck down) girl who graduated with honors from Harvard university, and love of the family who stood by her…

The best new year wishes I got from my supervisor in Utrecht, whom I called Opa (grandfather). "Eva, happy new year for you, may all your efforts bless your own future, and benefit the Indonesian bakers, Opa Evert". I had a big smile on my face while reading his text message.

I still remember our conversation during a lunch, 4 years ago in Rotterdam, right before I started the whole thing in research. "You learn fast and learn everything that you could while you are here, then go back to your country. Don’t stay abroad! Well, maybe you’ll live better off abroad, but your country will benefit more from their young people…"

Thanks a lot for reminding me Opa, you’re the best supervisor I could ever ask for! Happy new year 2007 everyone!