The Biography of a Great Teacher

“Work hard, the effort will not betray the results.” is the statements that I always remember from Dharmaputra Taludangga Palekahelu, the nicest man that I ever met. He was born on February 19, 1968 in Waingapu. Waingapu is a small city in East Nusa Tenggara. There, he spent his childhood with his family. He is the fourth of five children. This is the biography of Dharma.

            The nature of the hard workers has been already visible seen since he was a child. When he was a child, around 12 years old, he started to sell an egg to earn some money. Although he was a young boy he could manage his money so he could buy egg hatchery so his business became bigger. In 1985, when he was in senior high school, he was elected to be the Student President. His friends believed that he could make some changes, and he did it. Effort never betrays results. In 1986, he got a scholarship and he studied in geography majors. He was elected to be the Student President of Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana in 1990. He was able to lead his friends well. In 1991 He graduated from UKSW with a good score.

            After he graduated from UKSW, he chose Salatiga to be his place. In 1995, he decided to get married with his girlfriend, Carrol Juliana Ratuwalu. They met in UKSW’s dormitory. They had a relationship for 8 years before they decided to get married. They have two children. They are Jourdeane Maximillian Palekahelu and Kezia Abigail Rambu Lika Palekahelu. 2 years after his marriage, Dharma got a scholarship for continuing his education in Pelita Harapan University, Jakarta. While he was taking his master degree, he also worked in National Accreditation for Higher Education as a technical assistant and became a data analyst in Developing Madrasah Aliyah project.

His hard work made Dharma got a PhD scholarship from UKSW in 2006. In the third year, he studied in development study department, he got a visiting scholarship from Charles Darwin University. It made the other period of his PhD program be in Darwin University, Australia. That reality forced him to learn English more, because his English was not that good. The result of his hard work is now he can speak English fluently. In 2010, he finished his PhD program and he continued his job as a lecture in Information Technology Faculty (IT), and now he is the dean of IT Faculty.

            Dharma’s achievements have become an inspiration for many people, especially me. With his hard work, he can have a good career. He is a good father and also a good teacher for me. He teaches me that if we want something, we need to fight for it.