What makes a good leader?

Leadership, Teamwork and Service:  Three words that are often associated to leaders.  Three words that could either burden an institution or build a nation.

According to Max DePree, author of famous books about leadership,  “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.”

Leaders must accept and embrace their role not to be burdened by the responsibility of the position handed to them but to be a source of inspiration and guide to their fellowmen.

Yes, it is true that being a leader is not an easy thing to do.  But what makes it difficult is not the fact that the task is agonizingly difficult, but because the acceptance of role is not present.  They said that leaders do not inflict pain, leaders bear the pain.  Enticing as it may seem, being a leader of this school, the position that you hold now entails grave responsibilities which only brave souls like you would dare tackle head on.  But bearing all these challenges will prepare you not only to be good leaders now and onwards but also prepare you to nurture future leaders.

While many of the students say lots of reverberating No, I can’t, I don’t want to or why do I have to?  A single YES of a leader like you will inspire more yeses.  Isn’t it wonderful when the entire student body replies with a purposeful YES because their leader shows them that even an ORDINARY person like them can make things happen? 

Leadership is not about distinction, social class or power.  According to the Evangelist Luke, a leader is the one who serves (Lk. 22:24-30).  Leadership is a concept of owing certain things to the institution. It is a way of thinking about institutional heirs, a way of thinking about stewardship as contrasted with ownership.  The art of leadership requires us to think about the leader-as-steward of his institution or community and not as the owner of his society.

Leaders should leave behind them assets and a legacy. They must deliver to their organizations the appropriate services, products, tools, and equipment that people in the organization need in order to be accountable.  As a prefect you are the artful leaders of this school.

What are artful leaders responsible for? Surely you need to include people. People are the heart and spirit of all that counts. Without people, there is no need for leaders. Leaders can decide to be primarily concerned with leaving assets to their institutional heirs or they can go beyond that and capitalize on the opportunity to leave a legacy, a legacy that takes into account the more difficult, qualitative side of life, one which provides greater meaning, more challenge, and more joy in the lives of those whom leaders enable.

In a day when so much energy seems to be spent on maintenance and manuals, on bureaucracy and meaningless quantification, to be a leader is to enjoy the special privileges of complexity, of ambiguity, of diversity. But to be a leader means, especially, having the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who permit leaders to lead. 

Prefects and Student Council officers of Bina Bangsa School:  BE proud for you are called to serve, to lead and to connect each other in a bond that would one day be part of the human legacy.

The most inspiring person in the world.

Being a teacher for 15 years, I have met a lot of people:  rich, poor, kind, mean, sad and happy.  I have been blessed to teach in a local public school and private school in my country, and even in an international school in Indonesia.  I am thankful to share with you the most inspiring person I met in my life as a teacher.

I’d like to tell you a story of this one very inspirational person.  So inspiring that people around him feel so lost, sad and weary without him.

When this person was born, his parents never ceased to love him, give him their best love.  If this person gets sick, his parents get so worried that sometimes his parents never sleep until he gets well.

As this person gets older, his parents gets even more inspired knowing that their child is growing up the way they want him to be.

His parents are so inspired to work day and night just to make their child happy and to give their child want he wants.

When his parents saw that he his getting lonely playing alone, they were inspired to give him company by giving him a brother.  A brother to play with him all the time he wants so he will never feel  lonely.

He is also an inspiration to his brother, he mimics the way he speaks, the way he walks even the way he behaves.  He is his brother’s idol. 

When this person started going to school, his parents are even more inspired to attend his school activities, his parents even brag about their child to their family, friends and colleagues.

Then this person gained friends, he became an inspiration to his friends because his friends are happy whenever he is happy, his friends always want to see him smile. 

Whenever this person gets sad, his friends get sad too.  As if they feel the pains that this person is feeling at the moment.

Even his teachers are inspired because of this person.  They always want to give him the best lesson they can give.  They get inspired whenever they see this person listening to class, doing his homework and worksheet.  This child is very inspiring that sometimes his teachers labored until dawn to think of ways on how they can make their lessons easy to understand.

And when needed his teachers would collaborate to this child’s parents and friends just to help him get his marks up or even just to solve his personal worries.

What is amazing about this child is that he doesn’t know how inspiring he is.  How his presence moves people around him.  He always think that he is not special, that he is worthless, he is stupid.

This person is YOU!...  Yes, You!  You are the most inspiring person in this world for those people who love you, who cares for you and who believes in you.  Don’t ever feel that you are nothing, you are useless because you are everything.  Everything that even CHRIST died for you.

Keep being an inspiration to your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends and your teachers because YOU are the most inspiring person in our lives.

Chestnut Drive Secondary School-Bina Bangsa School Semarang Water Filter project

OVERVIEW:

The project started early July 2011 through the coordination of Ms. Siyun Chen with our principal, Yuliana Puspitasari.  The project is about collaboration between the students of Chestnut Drive Secondary School, Singapore and Bina Bangsa School-Semarang, Indonesia.

The project is to study about water purification and research on areas nearby Semarang who is experiencing difficulty in collecting water.  Students of both schools will exchange research and data regarding their individual projects and comment on each others works through the website set by Ms. Siyun Chen:  watergivesuslife.wikispaces.com.  Through the said website, the students of each schools are able to study and exchange information regarding their projects.

As to our school, the information given to us by the students of CDSS helped a lot in conducting our research and making our MINI WATER TANK WITH FILTER PROJECT:  a solution that our students proposed to a small village nearby the school who is currently experiencing difficulty of collecting water.  The remarks given to our students also helped us in revising our works thus being able to better the plan for our mini water tank.

Our students comprising the Secondary 1 up to the JC1 are members of the Science and Robotics Club of Bina Bangsa School Semarang, their ages vary from 11 to 16.  Most of then have learned the basics of water purification in their Secondary 1 Science lesson with me, (Methods of separation of mixtures), the students are so eager to put into practical purpose what they have learnt.

The team is divided into three groups:  the design group which is tasked to do the designing and building of the mini water tank with filter, the research group, which is tasked to find a location in need of a solution to collect free and clean water, and the documentations group, which is tasked to document the research, and prepare the necessary paper works for the team including uploading the materials to the wiki site.

THE DESIGN

Originally our design, as uploaded in the wikispace site, is made from used and cleaned old pvc pipe, used and cleaned water gallon, plastic tap, old water bottles, activated charcoal, zeolith stones and old metal casing of a dismantled lamp.  After several revisions, the students final design is somewhat similar to the original one, but this time the filters where redesigned from the inside.  Inside the pvc pipe is made from used, ready to use and cheap materials, consisting of clean, old socks.  Inside the socks you will see layers of activated carbon, ziolit stones, and aquarium filter that will serve as the filter.

In this design, we only purchased the ziolit stones and the activated charcoal, which we are sure that the local villagers can find substitute including sand for ziolit and home made activated charcoal, which my students also shared to the villagers on how to do home-made activated charcoal.  So actually, the mini water tank with filter will be easily reproduced.

THE RESEARCH

The research team found a small village nearby the school whom they found out is only using and depending on the water tank, shown in the picture of the website.  The village is composed of approximately 200 adults and children combined.  The research team, found out that the villagers are having a problem with getting water from the tank because the tank is being shared by some 30 families.  When many are using the water especially at night, the villagers find it hard to collect water.  The water they collect is sometimes with residues such as rust and sand.  Aside form that during days with no electricity, the villagers do not have any means of collecting water from the tank.  Though the villagers are not as poor as what we plan for our project to be tested, they were supportive to try the students’ project.

They showed us the tank, and the water that they collect from the tank.  They said that they still need to filter and boil the water that they collect from the tank because the tank is getting rusty and they cannot drink from it directly so some of them use their own water purifiers/filters which is costly and still wont work during no electricity periods.  Most of the villagers buy purified water to be safe.  Basically, according to the villagers, they use the water that they collect from their tank for household use.

After finishing the design, and several revisions, the research team tested the mini water tank with filter and found out that the water we collect from ordinary rain water is filtered and can be used for household use.  There were no foul smell and visible residue after passing through the pipe.  The mini water tank can collect a lot water during a heavy downpour.  All the user needs to do is to open the tap at the bottom of the tank and there they can collect filtered rain water.  The students tested the water using basic physical, biological and chemical methods and the test passed.  Though the students didn’t test the water by a sophisticated chemical analysis, the team recommended that the water still be boiled so that it will be safe for drinking.

The students also collected water from the village water tank and tested our mini water tank with filter.  The result is satisfactory, no large residue was found after the water passed to the filter inside the tank. 

The research team originally planned for the design to be tested by poor local villagers but unfortunately, the research team was not able to conduct the research due to some technical aspects.  After testing the design and after seeing its good results, the team set the project aside thinking that the water collaboration project has ended.  Should the research team was able to conduct the project; the team believes that the project could really help poor local villagers to collect the safe and clean water from the rain.

The team will try to continue to search for a new and needier local village who is more in need of free and clean water, who will also test the water tank and install it their house for collecting rain water, or even using the tank to filter their currently using water supply in their homes.  Although I see the possibility of the continuity of the project next academic year because some of my team members will be focusing on their national assessment exams and IGCSE’s.  

FUTURE:

To date some Secondary 1 Joy students are working on the possibility of integrating a distillation system in our water fillter.  Though the progress is slow, they are still improving and re-improving our water filter.  Hopefully before the school year ends, they will be able to present their water filter with distillation system.

Bina Bangsa School Earth Day 2013

I had a collaboration project before with Ms. Siyun Chen of Chesnut Drive Secondary School in Singapore and we built a water filtration system.  We did that using the exchange of information, comments and suggestions from among the students using wikispaces.  We actually learned a lot with the collaboration not only because my students were able to build a water filter but also by widening their views that learning is not only confined inside the four corners of the classroom.

Hence, I decided to join the Earth Day collaboration with her and the rest of the team from all over the world.

I made a lesson about reducing wastage of electricity with my Secondary 1 students and I integrated it with the earth day celebration.

After the activity, my students have learned a lot.  They were able to learn how to save electricity and how to save the Earth at the same time.

We too can make our class interactive and Earth friendly at the same time.  Let us support the Earth Day and make our world a better place to live.

I AM BEAUTIFUL!

I saw this ad commercial of Dove about how we, women perceive ourselves versus how others perceive us. The result is very dramatic.  It shows how we belittle ourselves when it comes to how we look like.

When a woman is asked a question:  "Are you beautiful?"  Many women would reply:  "I don't know, what do you think?"  or they may reply in a humorous way:  "Yes.  According to my mom."  

You can only hear a few women who can answer the question with a confident reply of "YES!"

WHY?

Because many women are concerned about their looks not because they are concerned about themselves but because they are concerned of what other people will say about them.  Many people go to cosmetic doctors not because they want to look pretty for themselves, but because they want to look pretty for other people.

Not many woman can actually say, "I want to slim down, because I want myself to look good or feel good about myself".  Instead, when asked why do they go to the gym or beauty doctors, they would reply:"because I don't want my friends to say I look old at my age, or I want my husband to be proud of me, that I still look young and  slim at my age."

Beauty is never about what other people see in you, or say about you.  It is about what you see in yourself or feel about yourself.

Being beautiful is not determined by what other people think about a person, but being beautiful is determined by how beautiful a person thinks about herself.

There is nothing wrong about wanting to be beautiful, or being slim; that is if you want it because you want to look better or feel better as a person.  There is also nothing wrong with being chubby or being flat nosed, or unproportioned face as long as you feel good about yourself and you don't care about what other people think about your appearance.  Remember that physical appearnace fades in time, it is the natural way of life, but the way you live your life is what remains in the memories of people who know you.

There is nothing wrong with improving your looks if you think it will add up to your happiness and well being.  But never try to improve your looks because you want other people to say that you look good.

If you think you are beautiful no matter how you look, never care whether other people thinks you are ugly.  Only people who doesn't appreciate a masterpiece would think there is such a thing as being ugly.  

Now I am going to ask you a question... ARE YOU BEAUTIFUL?  

What would your answer be?

http://guyism.com/humor/forensic-artist-draws-women-how-they-see-themselves-with-horrifying-results.html

English Carabao, anyone?

We Filipinos are often offended whenever we are compared to a carabao; that is our English skills for an example.  We get so fussy about people telling the manner of our speaking as "English Carabaos".  But we shouldn't get annoyed actually, instead let us take it as a challenge.

Why?  Because looking at the carabaos attitude, we are compared to an animal who is focused on its craft.  it wakes up earlier than his "partner", the farmer to work from early dawn to dusk at the field, toiling the fields over and over in a very organized manner.  We Filipinos are like that.  We make sure our tasks are done in perfection.  That is why we are all over the world because other nationalities see our "service par exellance" craftsmanship.

Have u looked at a rice field before?  Aren't they so neat?  We owe it to the carabaos.  Farmers would not have done those without a carabaos help.  In my world, at least here, in this place.  If you look at the tables of teachers inside the teachers room, you can have a clear idea which is owned by a Filipino and which is owned by not.  We are the only ones who would make a mess all day in our works, but makes sure that tables are neat before we leave for home.  We never leave our working places messy, we make sure that our working tables for the coming day is neat and organized.

Carabaos are the epitomy of service with obedience.  They won't stop working unless the farmer stops.  They will work continuously without complaining.  Yes I know we can't hear them complain, but have u seen a carabao stop moving in the middle of the field?  Or have u heard of a news that a carabao had a tantrum from its farmer early in the morning before toiling the fields?  NONE!  And Filipinos are like that too.  At least those people that I have worked with.  We work all day and would only stop when we finish our works.  We would blurt out some words of distates, but still we continue to work and comply to our requirements.

Carabaos are diligent, a symbol of hardwork.  We Filipinos are like that too.  Look at every fields of industry all over the wolrd, there will be a Filipino working inside it.  Why?  Because employers believe that we are hardworking people.  We can handle tasks assigned to us.  Yes, in the beginning the carabao maybe whipped once in a while for an error made, but once it gets the hang of its task, the carabaos will do it like its already programmed to its head.  That once it wakes up, its brain will function automatically doing his task until its completion.  We are also like that.  In the beginning they may say, we lack the skill, as all craftsmen experience.  But once we get the hang of our works, we would do it like its just an impulse to us.

So why get angry when they say we speak "english carabaos"?  Look at where it leads us...  We beat all these native english speaking people all over the world in a business English proficiency assessment.  We have proven the world that we Filipinos can peferct our crafts when we put our hearts into it.   We only prove that if we strive, we can achieve what we want.

So when people say, your English is an English carabao, let us proudly say, YES INDEED!  That is why our English improves everyday, that is why our English is grammatically correct, that is why after a year or two, our English is in perfection, because our English is an English Carabao:  The English of skillful, harworking and passionate workers!

picture source: elsiballatong

Class prophesy for BBS-SMG graduating class 2013

YEAR 2040, PHILIPPINES. I am nearing the end of my ephemeral journey.  My grandchild approached me and said; “grandma, you received a mail.” I heard a soft chuckle from her as she whispered to herself; “who uses snail mail at this time?” Being very old with very poor vision, I asked her assistance to open the envelope and read what was inside. Probably excited to open a snail mail for the first time, I didn’t hear any disagreement. She opened the envelope and said in a surprised voice, “grandma! You’re invited to an event.” With a crumpled forehead, I asked myself:“Who would invite an old woman like me who can’t even walk without a stick?” So I asked her “What event?  Where?  When?” and she replied “It’s not stated, but it says “You are cordially invited to attend a once in a lifetime exhibition of the world’s top businesses at Grand Indonesia Hotel on the 15th of March 2040.” And with a more surprised tone, she said “The invitation comes with airplane tickets grandma! Business class!”

When I heard the word Indonesia, I thought that maybe I did somethinggood to one of my students that made him/her invite me to the event.  My grandchild got even more excited when she saw that I could bring one person with me to the event. So she flashed me her puppy eyes and her biggest grin telling me to take her with me. How could I resist such a request? So I told her that I would take her if she promised to tell me everything she will see there and would re-tell me everything that she will hear in the event. She agreed and hushed away to tell her mother the news.

14 March 2040.  We reached the airport and were ready to check-in our baggage.  A man in uniform approached us and told us that he will be taking care of our check-in and that we just had to wait in the executive lounge where a friend of minewas waiting.  I asked him who the man was and he said that Captain Winston Rimas Kanggoana, pilot of Garuda Indonesia flight 233,was awaiting my arrival. I remembered Winston to be a happy-go-lucky student who liked to sleep at the stage during break times. The attendant took us to the lounge where I met the kind Captain. Even with blurry eyes I could still see how dignified he looked in his pilot uniform. He shook my hand and we chatted for a little. He told me that Garuda Indonesia is now owned by the VSMA Corporation, the largest airline corporation in Indonesia and that VSMA stands for Vincent, Steven, Mike, and Alby Corporation. I was really surprised to know how successful our past Bina Bangsa School alumni have become. He bid me goodbye and told me that much surprise was waiting for me.

We landed in Indonesia around 11:45 P.M. We were assisted to the arrival gate where a limousine was waiting for us.  We were escorted in and were taken to the grandest hotel I have ever laid eyes upon.  As a chauffeur opened the car door, the friendly faces of the hotel receptionists welcomed us to Hotel Lie-Tjahjono, owned by our former student Jesslyn and her husband Harris. They took us to the hotel’s presidential suite.As they opened the door, I was overwhelmed by the sheer luxury of the room. It was ornamented with the world renowned Aristo furnitures owned by Bill Aristo.I was nearly blinded by the sparkling chandelier hanging on the living room of the suite designed by the world’s best crystal sculptorChun Jin Seok.

As I plunked down on the sofa, I saw my grandchild gazing at the marvelous cutleries on the dining table.  She ran towards me and said:  “OMG grandma, it’s made of gold!”  She handed me a fork and I instantly flipped it to see the maker.I couldn’t really read it so my grandchild told me, “here granny, let me read it for you. “,  “It says, made in Indonesia by Aldo Chrisanto’s finest gold craft.”

I was still flabbergasted by the golden cutleries when the bell rang. My grandchild opened the door as the room service came in. They asked us to sit down while they served our food. The appetizer was mouth-watering and so was the main dish. The dessert was heavenly and the drinks were very refreshing. I asked the room service who was the chef that prepared my divine dinner.  He smiled and told me, “She is not our chef here; she is also our guest and volunteered to prepare the meal you and for your granddaughter. She is the world famous celebrity chef Felicia Adriana Wijaya.”

I was really surprised at how honored I felt, they treated me as if I was a queen.  The men left us with a very happy stomach. I was about to rest butinstead decided to read some magazines on the rack; I took the one on the very top, as I gazed upon the cover I nearly dropped my dentures, the brothers Samuel Dimitriand Yoshua Aristharkus were pasted across the cover as Indonesia’s oil magnate. I scanned the magazine further and saw another familiar looking face wearing ballerina clothes and the article read:  Jessica Benedicta, Indonesia’s prima ballerina to perform in Broadway with the New York Orchestra, conducted by Devina Wirawan.

I was still thunderstruck by the success of our past students when my eyes caught the brochure on the coffee table.  I saw Korea’s top model school owned by business partners Youne Kyung Eun and Kim Dae Ju; all the models were wearing YEO’S clothing line, owned by Yeo Song Hee, that kicked Calvin Klein and Yves Saint Laurentoff the market and to my surprise I later learnt that the head designer was Stefani Adelia. The brochure also featured world class architectural designs by the world famous architects who designed the world’s tallest and grandest buildings, Hugo William Budhitresno and Kenny Joshua.

I was almost in tears when I finished browsing the brochure. I looked for my grandchild who by now was watching a movie. I sat beside her as she watched a romantic comedyfilm featuring Indonesia’s prime actress Caecillia Joceline Cendra and heartthrob Roberto Priyatna Santoso.  When the movie was finished, we decided to turn in for the day. Before I closed my eyes, I told myself that this trip was getting juicier and juicier by the hour as most of the students I could barely remember are now the big wigs of the world.

I woke up at exactly 7.00 in the morning, I was awaken by the music being played by my granddaughter on the state of the art hologram entertainment center invented by scientists Angelina Jane and Ivan Sunardi Wibobo.  I wanted to scold her for being loud but when I saw the singers on the hologram it wasJessica Lorenzo and Yoseba Joan singer their latest song in their Titanium award winning album.  We ate breakfast immediately when the room service crew came in.  They told us that we were going to a spa around 9:00 in the morning.

We were much rejuvenated after the treatment by the friendly and caring spa attendants. We were served their world renowned tea,hand-picked from the largest tea farm in the world owned by Melia Permata Sari Wijaya. As we sipped our cup of tea, one of the attendants switched the channel to CNN. To my surprise the news anchor was Sabine Sara, who was delivering the news about the success of the release of the newest brand of flying cars designed by Aeronautic engineer Indra Gunawan. After the news we decided to change the channel, I stopped the search when I saw the latest commercial of the newest nicotine free cigarette owned by the cigarette tycoon Joshua Pramono Setia Budhi. The commercial was instantly followed by another commercial, this time about the latest brand of perfume made by Korea’s best perfumery, owned by Ryu Dami.I switched the channel again only to find out that Indonesia’s first space shuttle launch to the moon will happen soon and on it will be astronauts Kristi Megan Kanadi, Wilson Wanarta and Sonia Hermawan.

Then we were taken to the biggest salon inside the hotel owned by the beauty expert and skin doctorSherry Felicia Salim. The salon was so huge and full of state of the art salon gadgets. I felt like a superstar after the hair and make-up session was done.

We thought that it was over, when we were taken to the hotel shop for our choice of clothes. I was ecstatic as I laid my eyes upon the wonderful gowns and designer shoes on display throughout the store. My grandchild chose a simple gown for me made by the famous gown designer Michelle Sardjono and shoes by designer Yessica Indah Sari. Then they took us to the accessories collection where the most expensive and most luxurious jewelries designed by Antoni Mulia Salim were displayed.

I was beginning to cry when they told me that it was almost time for the event. So they took us to the lobby to wait for the limousine. At the lobby, we saw an art exhibition by some famous painters and sculptors from around the world like Hany Lieka and Fely Fanesa Budianto. There was also a chocolate exhibit from top dessert chef Septian Hari Joedono.

The chauffer escorted us in the limousine and told us that the event will be so big that it will be graced by the South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Soon Gwon Kim, Indonesia’s best microbiologist Sola Garachia Abigail, and the president himself.

I was so excited to hear about the event. As I entered the event’s lobby, I was given a royal treatment. I was surprised to know that I am to be seated in front near the stage. When I got to my seat, I saw many familiar looking faces.I tried to remember where I saw them before and got really shaky when I realized that they were my former co-teachers in BBS and we were all seated in the front row. We shook each other’s hands and started to reminisce our old days in BBS when the MC announced, “ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of the Republic of Indonesia, Richard Adrian Budhitresno.”

My jaw literally dropped at the thought when my seatmate and friend Ms. Riris shook my shoulder and said, “Ms. Khaye. Hello!  Earth calling Ms. Khaye?  Hey!  Why are you smiling by yourself?”  Goodness!  I was daydreaming.

Daydreaming or not, the thought of our students making it big in the world made me realize how lucky I am to be a part of their journey towards success.