My speech in the ADS Farewell

Sekedar bernostalgia, 6 tahun yang lalu.....
Begitu kembali dari Australia dan selesai dengan studi S2 saya di UQ, saya dihubungi pihak ADS Jakarta. Mereka melakukan wawancara atas kesan dan pesan saya setelah selesai dengan beasiswa pemerintah Australia.
Karena ADS menganggap bahwa saya telah mendapat 'banyak' dari kesempatan beasiswa tersebut, mereka memilih saya untuk menjadi wakil student dan memberikan speech pada acara ADS Farewell di Jakarta.

This was my speech in the ADS Farewell in Jakarta: the original could be click on http://www.indo.ausaid.gov.au/featurestories/adsspeech.html


"I want to contribute back to my beloved country…"

Nina Kurnia Dewi is an Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) recepient. She gained her MBA from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and graduated in 2002. At the last ADS annual dinner, on September 3, 2003, Nina gave a speech, representing hundreds of ADS awardees and friends. Here is an excerpt of Nina's remarks.

Tonight is a very special night for me and all my fellow ADS scholars who have recently returned from Australia as we join the big family of AusAID alumni for the very first time.

We have many wonderful and cherished memories of living and studying in Australia that are still etched in our minds. It feels just like yesterday, that we were going to lectures at our universities together with Australians and other international students, working in laboratories, studying in the library and preparing for our examinations. We went to big shopping malls with our families, visited many beautiful places throughout Australia and even enjoyed afternoon tea with Australian families. It feels just like last night we were performing our traditional songs and dances, wearing our traditional costumes on "Indonesian night" at our Universities.

Being an AusAID awardee gave us a sense of pride. The recruitment process was clearly fair. I found neither any collusion nor hidden commitment among the recruiters and candidates. So blunt and straight. We were recruited based on our capability, not based on somebody's signature or other reasons.
Then we were enrolled in courses at the IALF so we could improve our English skills. We are extremely grateful to all the staff & management of the IALF for helping us to better our English and academic skills and hence, preparing us to enter the Australian Universities.

Upon arrival in Australia, we felt a bit confused. However senior ADS students guided us and we learnt to survive. Life was very enjoyable in Australia. For many of us we were able to share the Australian "dream" with our partners and children. We studied hard and shared all of our difficulties with the ADS liaison officers who were always helpful. For all of this, I would like to express, on behalf of all AusAID alumni present here this evening, our innermost gratitude to AusAID for providing us with scholarships by which we enjoyed studying & living in Australia.

Now we are back in Indonesia. We completed our studies and received our masters or PhDs. We work throughout this vast country in many fields and bring with us additional knowledge and international experience. We feel duty-bound to contribute to the development of our beautiful country, Indonesia, and to bring her out of these difficult times. I believe we can do this together.
Once again I would like to personally thank AusAID for their generosity and support which I will never forget. My life has been changed and I want to contribute back to my beloved country and more important, continue to foster this wonderful friendship between Indonesia and Australia.