Grab the Mentor

IP Level 2.3

Grab the Mentor

by Dewi Erita

Several days ago, I went to my hometown. I was planning to collect my working proof from all places that I had ever worked before. In general, there was some changes. Several clinic building were bigger, more rooms, more facilities, and various type of services. Unfortunately, one place was closed. The owner moved to another place and shifted to different way of business. On the other hand, the owner from the last place I had visited said that their clinic are going to transform to hospital in 3 years ahead. Well, I am happy to hear that.

At the end of the day, after I had all the working proof papers, I thought about people I had met along that day. Seeing the change, talking with them, and listening their story made me pause for a moment, asking myself. Why some places are going better? Why that place are still the same? Why another seems to be going down? Why there is only little progress? Why there is great improvement? Why that place survive?

 Despite the fact that fluctuation is normal (of course), I tend to think that there is something which made them different. What is that? 

Mentoring.

One of success CEO in Indonesia had ever mentioned about mentoring. He said that one of three things needed for keeping excellent business stamina was continuing mentorship. Entrepreneur learn from the mistakes of senior entrepreneur. Not only about business, but also all aspect of life need mentoring. Bruce Lee is mentored by Ip Man. Oprah Winfrey is mentored by Maya Angelou. Success person have mentor.

Do you have mentor?

I have mentor. I had ever had a mentor in writing club. In the club, all member were divided into three groups that is essay group, poem group, and short story group. I chose essay group. Each group had a meeting and discussion. Then, we were assigned to write an essay. The comment about our essay was not much. Our mentor just said “keep writing and read the book”. I remembered that my friend in poem group got one-word-comment, “bad”. “Bad” means keep writing and read the book. In general, the comment was always “keep writing and read the book”.

I also had been mentored by my friend. We did going abroad project at our third semester at UI. Truthfully, I had never imagined about overseas. For me, It was far away like the distance from earth to the sky (almost impossible). At that time, I just thought that I had to try going abroad even though once in my life. For that, my mentor did many things even the small thing that is checked my answer in the English form and revised it, explained the information, taught how to reply an email in English, and so on. Furthermore, my mentor kept giving encouragement when our proposal for scholarship and sponsorship still did not accepted even rejected (finally, we got both).

Next, I had formal mentorship for my undergraduate thesis. At the beginning, I stucked. After I submitted first chapter thesis, my mentor asked, “What is the purpose of . . . ? Why just the female . . . ? Why you study this . . . ? For what the result of the study . . . ?”. Instead of giving me inspiration, my mentor gave me the questions. As a result, I was perplexed then decided to keep it for a while. Next meeting (after months), mentorship was still the same. After I submitted my thesis paper, then, in short time, my paper was full of handwriting. It is said, “Change this! Delete this! Add this!”. Then, my mentor just said, “Search again as much as possible”. Truthfully, I needed more words and I needed inspiration, but I did not get it. However, I did whatever my mentor said. By the time, I get used to it. At the end of mentorship, I realized two precious things. First, our mentor always provided us time no matter how busy he is. Second, our mentor always encouraged us patiently to understand something by ourselves by saying “Open your book” or  “Not that  . . . Not  . . . Not like that . . . Not . . . ” and it would keep like that until we found the answer by ourselves.

To conclude, everyone need mentoring. Mentor will guide us by informing their perspective and sharing their personal experience, encourage us to solve our problem by giving feedback, and help us building skills and meeting goals. Mentoring is about improved competency, particularly for functional skills and specific interest. So, I think the most important thing is find a mentor!

Depok, February 2^nd 2018

(This draft speech has been presented at Plaza Toyota Toastmasters Club Regular Meeting on February 3^rd, 2018)

Overseas and Health

IP Level 2.2

Overseas and Health

by Dewi Erita

 

Nowadays, a rising number of students are considering of going overseas to study for a degree.

Do you want to continue to study abroad?

What should be prepared?

Other than that, it is important for us to know general information about living abroad, such as housing, money, and health. Housing means anything to do with accommodation. Money is about setting up a bank account and transferring money. Health means registering with a doctor; vaccinations and prescriptions; and other medical advice. Commonly, all of this information are given by university. However, in my opinion, prospective students are supposed to know more about health especially health insurance. Why should we know more about health insurance?

Knowing about health insurance will give us information about how to obtain medical treatment, how to access medical care and how health care works. Actually, health insurance is vary among countries. So, finding out about this is recommended. First, I will look at the general information. Later, I plan to give brief information about health insurance for international students in several countries. Finally, I will explain about national health insurance in our country.

Health insurance is provided by public provider/ public insurance and private providers/ private insurance. Public provider is run by government, while private providers are run by company. In Australia, there is Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC). OSHC is insurance for international student. OSHC is provided by private providers that is Australian Health Management, Allianz Global Assistance, BUPA Australia, Medibank Private, and nib. Students can arrange OSHC through university or purchase it online.

In Japan, international student have to subscribe National Health Insurance which is run by public provider. After registered, students will only pay 30% of  the total medical bill. This mean that students still need to pay for every health care. In New Zealand, international student should get private insurance. The university will automatically register student for preferred health insurance.  In England, the name of insurance is National Health Service (NHS) which is run by public provider.  Students do not need to pay for NHS. It is free. However, to access the NHS, students have to pay for an Immigration Health Surcharge for getting NHS. How about our country?

Here in Indonesia, we have National Health Insurance System/ Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN) which is run by Social Security Administrator for Health/ Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial (BPJS Kesehatan ). The purpose of JKN is to cover all citizen and foreigner who are working for health needs.  

In summary, health insurance for international student is compulsory. Students should register for private provider, such as in Australia and New Zealand, or for public provider, such as in Japan and England. Most of university will give assistance for registering in health insurance, although in Australia students can purchase it by themselves. So, I think that it is reasonable to say that before going abroad prospective students are supposed to register for national health insurance (JKN) in BPJS office or website. 

Thank you

Depok, December 28^th 2017

(This draft speech has been presented in UI Toastmasters Regular Meeting on December 28^th 2017 at VIP Lounge Central Library UI)

References

1. Australian Government Department of Health. Overseas Student Health Cover.

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Overseas%20Student%20Health%20Cover%20FAQ-1 accessed November 28^th, 2017

2. Gateway to Study in Japan. Medical Insurance.

http://www.g-studyinjapan.jasso.go.jp/en/modules/pico/index.php?content_id=28 accessed December 26^th, 2017

3. New Zealand Immigration. Paying for Healthcare Services.

https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/living-in-nz/healthcare/paying-for-healthcare-services

accessed December 26^th, 2017

4. The University of Auckland. Health and Travel Insurance.

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/international-students/how-to-apply/health-and-travel-insurance.html accessed December 26^th, 2017

5. UCL. Health advice.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/iss/before-you-arrive/health accessed December 26^th, 2017

6. Expat Indo. The Indonesian National Health Insurance System.

https://www.expatindo.org/summary-jkn-and-bpjs/ accessed December 28^th, 2017

7. BPJS Kesehatan. Prosedur Pendaftaran Peserta JKN BPJS Kesehatan.

https://bpjs-kesehatan.go.id/bpjs/index.php/pages/detail/2014/20 accessed December 28^th, 2017

Leading in Your Own Way

Pathway: 

IP Level 2.1

Leading in Your Own Way

by Dewi Erita

A few days ago, I went to my hometown. I rode on bus at terminal. The bus was moving forward when something happened. Bus driver realized that he could not find his mobile phone. He stopped the bus and look for his gadget.

“Let’s move to another bus, then.” One of passenger, old man, spoke up that passenger may use another bus instead of waiting.

Driver did not agree and asked his co-driver for searching his mobile phone while he was continuing to drive the bus. The bus moved again. After 10-15 minutes, co-driver gave up to find it. Driver stopped the bus again and searched by himself. One of passenger helped for searching the phone and started mobilizing passengers to do so. Although we intended for helping, the driver’s face did not seem in good mood and did not aware of other.

“Let’s move to another bus.” The old man instructed passengers to get off.

Old man asked co-driver to go back to terminal and bring them another bus.

“Mr., you can get into the bus,” said driver after several minutes.

“No, no, you can continue to search your mobile phone,” refused old man.

“He must be on drunk,” said woman.

“It’s danger to let him drive in bad mood condition,” uttered another passenger. Another bus arrived. We were all safe after around 15 minutes waiting on the edge of the road. 

 

What can we learn from this case? Yes, leadership.  That old man influenced all passenger to get off and moved to another bus.

Leadership is influence. As we know, leading deals with people, both individuals or groups. Every person is a leader and each leader has their own style(s) to approach people namely leadership style. Today, I would like to share my leadership styles.

Firstly, authoritative style. I have ever had study group discussion for one semester.  My team member was consist of busy people. Some of them were employee and some of them were in their last semester. I shared job description in every assignment. Sometimes they did, sometimes half people did, and sometimes none of them did. In that condition, I would did it by myself as long as I understand the task, I do not mind. One day, we had assignment and for me, it was very difficult. Unfortunately, none of them did the task. I was angry at that time and one of them realize it. Then, he did that assignment by himself in a very short time to make me calm. I used authoritative style because we had limited time.

Secondly, altruistic style. I led one team to collect data by interviewing. Each person of us had a target, a number of people, to be interviewed. Almost all member reached the target. Unfortunately, I was the slowest one. So my team was waiting until I reached my target. Alltrustic style is when leader motivates member, serves member better, and gives empathy. In my case, my team did altruistic thing to me, as a team leader. Of course, it is not altruistic leadership style, but I just want to share the value of altruistic style.

Finally, democrative style. I did research in small team. My member team was busy person. He was also expertise in his field. He often persisted to ask me to do everything based on standard without any excuse. It was hard, really. Fortunately, I did it in time. In that condition, I used democratic style because my member team is expertise so I allowed him to take the lead and make decision.

To sum up, my dominant style is democratic leadership (based on the Leadership Style Scoring Guide). I like collaborate and communicate with others to receive precious input and learn together. Nevertheless, I also apply authoritative style for another condition.

Depok, November 9^th 2017     

(This draft speech has been presented in UI Toastmasters Club Regular Meeting on November 9^th 2017 at VIP Lounge Central Library UI)

My Vision

Pathway: IP level 1.2.1

My Vision

by Dewi Erita

 Do you have a vision?

What is your vision?

Today, I would like to talk about my vision. Vision is usually defined as a thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination. Why should we discuss about our vision? Well, I think that we should tell our vision to people. People around us can help to make our vision come true, remind us if we forget or almost give up, and pray for us. My vision is to be a useful person in the health field. It seems simple and easy. There are three explanations to make my vision more clear. 

First of all, I will explain about my background. I am interested in health. When I was child, I liked the name related with health. I made mini scrapbook about health. The content of that book was about nutrition like carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamin and mineral. I copy it from my biology book. I also wrote the abbreviation word such as DNA, RNA, and HIV. What is more, I read manga and found many information about health such as cyanide and toxic fish.  I wrote it down too. As for that, I dream to be a doctor/ physician. In 2007, I joined the selection of new student that is Seleksi Penerimaan Mahasiswa Baru (SPMB). I registered for medical student. Unfortunately, I failed in that selection but I accepted in midwifery college. In 2014, I continued my study in public health.

Second, I will illustrate my concept. I like writing and I share my essay to many people. I make writing as my hobby so the content is still various. Nevertheless, I try to make it relate with health. For instance, I put all my draft speech about health in my blog.

Thirdly, I will share my mission. I hope that I can get knowledge and skills more specific. Maybe, I can get it through employment, help researcher to do their study, or work in university. The best way is being master degree student. I am interested in maternal and neonatal health and mental health. I hope that I can increase quality of life of housewife. I hope that people keep their body healthy until getting old. I hope that people which have chronic diseases can enjoy their life even they are sick.

To sum up, my vision is still general. It is also not easy to implement. I can see big stone in front of me. Am I strong enough to pass through it with my thin body? When I was still student at UI, in my first year, my lecture said that whatever you are in the future, you have to be success person. I will keep that word and try to make my vision come true.

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world” (Joel A. Barker).

Thank you.

Depok, September 6^th, 2017

(This draft speech has been presented in UI Toastmasters Club regular meeting on September 6^th, 2017)