CHAPTER 7 GOODBYE HAWAII

After completing his studies at the School of Nursing, Bandung Adventist Hospital, Perry became a nurse and became a mission officer at the Adventist Hospital. Not starting from the bottom, he immediately gained the trust to become Central Supply Supervisor at the new Adventist Hospital on Jl. Cihampelas, Bandung. Meanwhile, most of his colleagues at the same batch are still maintenance staff in the Inpatient Department.

Even though his interest in nursing is serving sick people in the out-patient department, his work at Central Supply is considered quite challenging. Because, in this section, all supplies of materials for inpatient use are provided, such as infusion sets, sterile linen materials for operating rooms, catheter sets, sterile and non-sterile gauze, and so on. Apart from that, this section also provides all the linen materials used in hospitals.

When everything seemed to be going well, a problem arose that was on Perry's mind at that time, namely the problem of income. At that time, an Adventist Nurse graduate was equivalent to a D2 education level, while mission employees in other fields who graduated from the Indonesia Union Seminary, such as priests, teachers, accountants/treasurers, were already D3. Due to the high demands of life, the wages he received so far felt inadequate.

On the one hand, as the eldest child, he felt that he should help his parents in sending his younger siblings to school. However, on the other hand, the wages received every month are almost gone after paying for boarding house rent, food costs and other personal expenses. The rest is very minimal. Not to mention that he has plans to start a family. Perry kept asking himself when this could happen with his current situation.

Finally, he became interested in continuing his formal education by entering the Faculty of Medicine in Bandung. but unfortunately at that time no one could finance it and no one could provide scholarships. Meanwhile, without a scholarship, it was difficult for him to finance his education.

A way out then suddenly appeared amidst his despair. While living in Bandung, Perry boarded in a rented house in the Maulana Yusuf area. Many of his friends in the rented house were ITB students. Some are just entering ITB, some are almost graduating. He heard a lot of conversations about scholarship offers coming to their campus, and quite a few of their colleagues also received scholarships from within and outside the country. It was through them that he got an address for an agency from abroad, specifically in Hawaii, United States.

After getting the address, Perry tried his hand once again, by sending an application letter to the Center for Technical and Cultural Interchange Between East and West University (East-West Center University) in Hawaii. Good luck came to him again when a letter came asking for all his curriculum vitae and one exam sheet. Full of hope, he immediately prepared the required documents, completed the exam and sent it back immediately.

Not waiting long, he again received a letter from the university saying that he was entitled to the proposed scholarship and had the opportunity to study in the psychology department he had applied for. In the letter he also stated that he did not have to pay a penny of fees for the four year period. Study includes the cost of going there and the cost of returning to Indonesia after graduating.

Once again a golden opportunity came to Perry. He felt as if he had a windfall, a surge of enthusiasm and enthusiasm welled up endlessly in his chest. He also deliberately never told this to any of his co-workers at Adventist Hospital, including his boss, with the intention of giving them a surprise when he finally left Bandung for Hawaii, United States.

To prepare for his departure, Perry started going back and forth from Bandung to Jakarta to report to the United States Embassy in Jakarta, take care of a certificate from the Department of Higher Education, and also passport matters from Indonesian Immigration in Jakarta. At that time, the Department of Education was divided into two: one was the Department of Primary and Secondary Education and the other was the Department of Higher Education.

His dealings with the United States Embassy in Jakarta went very smoothly after showing a letter from East-West Center University in Hawaii. They gave instructions, so that once the passport and permission letter from the Department of Higher Education are available, they should immediately be taken to the Embassy to be issued a Student Visa, and ready to go. However, the process is very different at the Department of Higher Education and the Indonesian Immigration Office. The procedures he had to go through were very slow, he was thrown here and there, going back and forth to each section to take care of the administration. It's really tiring and difficult, especially for those who don't have much time and money.

It was a shame that the political situation in Indonesia at that time was less than favorable, where the Indonesian government tended towards the Eastern bloc (Socialist-Communist Countries) and against Western countries, especially the United States. He admitted that this was an obstacle when processing documents in Indonesia. Everything felt so difficult because his other colleagues who wanted to go to study in socialist countries such as Poland or the Soviet Union, could get permission immediately. Different from those who will go to the United States like him.

His struggle at that time was very persistent in fighting for this golden opportunity, but sometimes bad things happen despite your efforts, the deadline that had been set to report himself at East-West Center University in Honolulu, Hawaii passed without him getting the required documents. Even though he did not give up and tried to contact the university to extend the time a little more, the paperwork with these two institutions still could not be completed. Finally the university decided to cancel the scholarship.

His heart was so broken, all his efforts and struggles so far had been completely in vain, a precious golden opportunity had just flown from his hands. It feels like all hope has been consumed by this bitter reality. The losses he experienced were not only material, but also time and energy that was wasted during the processing process, and what was even more detrimental for Perry was the loss of his enthusiasm for life. He felt that at that moment this was the lowest point in his life. His soul was sick with his failure so that his body was no longer strong enough to support a life that no longer had that passion.

Finally he fell ill and had to be treated at the Bandung Adventist Hospital. At that time he really had no passion for life. He thought, it would be better if he just died. The doctor's diagnosis showed that he was suffering from typhoid, which was made worse by despair. In his helplessness in bed during his illness, his heart once again raged about the fate of his life. He realized that he had decided twice that he no longer wanted to be a nurse. The first time was at Adventist High School, Martoba, Pematangsiantar, then the second time after graduating as a nurse.

After that incident, Perry went to the office of the director of the Midwife School at RSU Rancabadak (Hasan Sadikin) to apply to become a Midwife School student after graduating from Nursing School. But he was immediately rejected by the director. In the past, he really enjoyed midwifery, which he took for one semester at Nursing School. He was very interested in studying midwifery and wanted to become a midwife because he could open his own midwifery clinic later. The reason for changing professions was not because he didn't like nursing, but because of economic reasons which were indeed an obstacle. Later, he began to realize that perhaps all the obstacles that occurred in his life were because God wanted him to remain a nurse, and after all efforts to change his fate failed, he had no desire to aspire to be anything else other than a nurse.