NARASI PERJUANGAN - Haikal Irsyadi Hasbillah

All journey starts with a dream and so was mine. A dream to save lives. A dream to do good. A dream to be of service when someone’s life is at risk. A dream to become a le medécin or known internationally as a doctor.

Greetings people of the great nation known as Indonesia and students and professors of the faculty of medicine Universitas Indonesia, my name is Haikal Irsyadi Hasbillah, son of Setya Budi Santoso and Eva Marafianti, born in 27 October 2001 from the faculty of medicine, Universitas Indonesia and I am here to share my journey from scratch up until the point I was accepted as a student in the oldest and greatest medical faculty in Indonesia. I come from a land far away from Indonesia, I come from Saudi Arabia and I enrolled at Jubail International School my whole school life up until the point of graduation. I have lived in Saudi Arabia for 10 years and now it was time to say goodbye to my previous life in order to start a new life.

Being honest, my dream never stayed the same. When I was a toddler, i dreamt to be a police, a firefighter, an astronaut, even up until the point I actually wanted to become the famous TV character Barney the purple dinosaur, however I also dreamt to have all of the toys available in the world. All those dreams have one common point, they all serve the community in order to make the world a better place. As I entered kindergarten, I dreamt to be a celebrity, because at that time I thought being rich means you have conquered the world. But that dream didn’t last long when i learnt that my favorite celebrities took drugs and weeds. Right after I witnessed that terrifying and horrible news, I cried the whole night, couldn’t sleep and couldn’t even close my eyes due to the news being very heartbreaking. But I got to my senses again and i was dedicated to straighten my path once again.

In the summer of 2008, my father was offered a job Four Thousand Miles away in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia from Jakarta, Indonesia. He accepted the job and flew ahead of the rest of us. At that time, I was just in the second grade of primary school or Sekolah Dasar. The four of us, me, my mother, sister and my baby brother who at that time was only 6 months old were left by the leader of our family, my father. A year later in the summer of 2009, my father took all the four of us to Saudi Arabia in order to start a new and fresh life in an unknown and scary territory. However, I now consider Saudi Arabia my second home, sometimes I feel homesick and I want to go back. Saudi Arabia is not what the news has shown us, it’s thrice better than the hoax the news has shown us. I transferred from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia in the third grade, without the knowledge of knowing how to speak English. Moreover, I lacked a lot in terms of education and conversation due to the language barrier at that time. I then transferred to a better school in which I can proudly say my family. That school is called Jubail International School, and I am one of the graduates of class of 2019. My school has helped me in various ways in order to get admission to Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be here standing proudly as a freshman in Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia.

My father works in a petrochemical company in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. He changes shifts, sometimes morning, sometimes evening and some other times night shift. His working conditions are very harsh, sometimes he gets injured for working too hard. This is because he works in the fields, doing most of the heavy works. Rarely when he arrives home, we see burnt injuries and scars that cannot be reverted. Most people saw it as a bad sign, including me, however, my father has a different perception. He thinks that his scars and burnt injuries are a sign of his hard work and dedication to get this far in his life. Sometimes i think to myself if I can help in some way, but as i was only a child, i was only limited to a few options. The decision of wanting to help my father also became one of my motivations to become a doctor.

In the late-2010s, right after my summer vacation ended in September, our family was struck by a terrible news, my grandfather had passed away. We’ve only been separated for a month, yet we were separated Four Thousand Miles away across the world. That news really struck my heart like a thunderbolt, sharp and quick. I couldn’t sleep, I cried inside my bedroom the whole night up until the moment my mother was so worried about me that she called my father from work. The next day, my eyes was too red that my vision became blurry. My mother explained everything that happened to my grandfather but the more I hear about it, the more I couldn’t handle. But I picked myself up and brace myself in order to lean about the truth. I learnt that my grandfather died instantly as he was electrocuted with a very high voltage equipment. I also learnt that at that time he was very sick and so his stamina had dropped drastically. That also became one of my motivations to become a doctor who could help the ones in need of medical attention. That tragedy really turned my life upright.

As I entered middle school, my father and I had a really deep and long conversation about my future. I was told that I should focus on my studies if I were to become successful. At that time, I had no dream to follow, I was just living for the moment. I was asked what I wanted to be later as I get older, I didn’t know what to say since I have had no goal at that time. One thing is for sure, I have to study smart and work hard in order to get acceptance into one of the top universities or colleges. I took that mindset very seriously and so my journey towards becoming a student in the best faculty of medicine in Indonesia started from that point.

In middle school, science was divided into 3 sub subjects, Chemistry, Physics and Biology. At first, I disliked biology, I was very interested in chemistry and physics. During exams, I focused more on biology as I used to be very weak at that subject compared to chemistry and physics. But as I keep on focusing on biology, I realized where my heart belongs. Not in chemistry where we study in depth about chemicals, neither in physics where we study about momentum, force etc, but in biology where we study about life. I think life is so important that it cannot be replaced by materialistic things, no matter the worth. I quickly took interest in biology that I rose up the ranks quite quickly and became one of the top students in the biology class. I actively participate in class discussions, asked my teacher frequently and sometimes even discuss about the pros and cons of certain things. My biology teacher and I grew very close, we often discuss our interest in life. He once asked me what I want to do with my life, I said I want to help the people in need. And so he was the one who made me sure I don’t make the wrong choice in what I want to do in the future, and that is I want to be a doctor.

It was during high school however, that I really focused on my studies, especially in scientific and life subjects such as biology, sociology and chemistry. I did not give the other school subjects much attention because I was not very interested in them, especially mathematics and statistics. I studied days and nights, at least 4 hours a day, sometimes longer to the point where I have not gotten enough sleep for a month. My eyebags was very dark, and I look like an eyesore in the eyes of my friends and family. However, behind those times and moments were my hard work and dedication to fulfill my dream. I did not give up, I continued to study in the same manner for 2 years. This however, caught the principal’s attention. I was suspended from school for 3 days, I know that the principal just want to help me get back to my full health, and that was the only way he could stop me. At that time, I was a total nerd, I read books about medicine and health over and over again up until the point where I actually remembered most of the pages and it’s contents. My teachers and principal knew that I needed help and some time to rest, and so that’s what they did.

My role in high school was huge, I actively participate in events and competitions. One of those competition was the Toastmasters International. It’s a non profit organization trying to promote young people’s communication and public speaking skills. I joined toastmasters international for a year, and I am very thankful I did. Not only did they improve my public speaking skills, but they also made me aware of myself and to be thankful of what I have been given. Through the table topic speaking programs, I learnt more and more about the world, about all the conflicts, diseases and terrorism in the world which are threatening the bright and brilliant minds of those conflicted countries. One of the topic that also made me want to be a doctor was the decreasing life expectancy of developing countries as well as those conflicted countries such as Syria, Palestine and Yemen. Indonesia also sadly, has a very low life expectancy. This is because there isn’t much awareness and education about health in the developing regions. The more I talk about this topic, the more I am sure that I have to be a doctor, because every life is precious.

During high school, my marks for the science subjects was very consistent. I usually get 95 and above in biology, 90 and above in chemistry and around 80 and above in physics. However, I lacked behind by miles in my mathematics up to the point where I actually failed several times, Because of this, my teachers and my family urged me to apply into a medical school. The one and only medical school I had in mind was the FKUI. I was even more motivated to join this medical school when I learnt more about this school. And so I applied through Talent Scouting. Around 2 weeks later I received an email from the Secretariat of Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Indonesia to have my Mini Multiple Interviews and my Psikotes in the coming 2 days. I, naturally, was shocked, because I was living 4000 miles away from the test centers. I tried calling and emailing the faculty, however I did not get any response. But I was dedicated to join the best and oldest medical faculty in Indonesia. And so with just an hour to pack and get ready, I flew 4000 miles in order to fulfill my dream. My journey here was a tough one, not only because I studied hard, but also because I needed to have the motivation to fly back and forth THREE TIMES IN JUST 3 MONTHS. That really needed some next level dedication. But I am thankful I did, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here, calling myself as a student of Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Indonesia.

My road ahead is going to be a rocky and a tricky one, but I will not give up and aspire to be a doctor. I plan to finish my Bachelor’s alongside my new classmates, because we leave no man behind. No matter what happens, we’ll be there together, backing each other up.

Because a wise man once said, “Difficult roads often leads to beautiful destinations”.