KEEPER OF HOPE
Taufan Wijaya, Tribun Batam

Bone cancer or osteosarcoma destroyed one of Nina’s legs more than a decade ago. Now 41 years-old, Nina had worked in an office before deciding to become a volunteer. Today, she spends time helping people who are having trouble receiving medical treatment.

She actively seeks donations for those who require wheelchairs, medicine for those who can’t afford them, and she always provides a fighting spirit for those who have lost all hope in their treatment. Nina drives her three-wheeled motorbike each day to visit patients at several hospitals, then she makes the round of purchasing all the necessary medicine, before heading out to the nursing home, where she checks on those who are in wheelchairs. She spends the whole day doing this.

Nina is not a fairy. She is simply trying to spread hope in others so that it may also find eternity within herself. Currently, she is facing the dilemma of fighting the cancer she thought she had defeated. The cancer seems to be attacking her arms now, and she has to take painkillers to whisk away the pain. But what she does every day, as a volunteer, gives her strength beyond measure.

For Nina, raising these people’s hopes and dreams is a form of her gratitude. “It charges my ‘batteries’. It keeps my spirits up, because I know there are others who suffer more than we do—and therefore we must always be thankful,” she said. Nina continues to light the fire of hope for all the patients she is lending her hand to, and she will never let the light die down.

Empowerment is an effort to be better, stronger and more useful for others. The true empowerment is to help support others, while also supporting ourselves. And to motivate ourselves to take a step toward the future.