Vision for Sharing has Become a Motivation for Channeling Thousands of Labours to Work Overseas
Having a career in the tourism industry is highly promising that it has driven people to flock in pursuing jobs in this field. One of the popular careers is getting a job as migrant worker in a cruise ship. In fact, to be able to get a job in this field needs a lot of effort and investments, both in terms of getting the appropriate training and providing the administrative costs. Having seen this phenomenon, Ketut Sarini was moved to facilitate Balinese human resources to be able to get a job and build a career path as a cruise ship crew with an affordable cost and as for it she has been able to channel thousands of Balinese human resources for working overseas.
For the past two decades, Bali has become one of the islands in Indonesia which routinely channeling labours for working as cruise ship crews. This job has become a dream job for many people not only for the great amount of income that it offers but also the opportunity to travel the world and see exotic places continuously. However, in order to be accepted in this industry, some criteria are needed to be fulfilled by a worker. The two main requirements would be a certified training programme for workers in accordance with their positions and competencies and certainly a good command of foreign languages
The fact that there were huge numbers of Balinese potential human resources who pursue careers as crews in cruise ships, regardless of their lack of competencies to be in this job field, finally urged a lady named Ketut Sarini to accommodate the needs of these Balinese human resources achieving their dreams for working overseas as a cruise ship crews. This lady, who has experienced working on one as a crew beforehand, helped the candidates from starting at the earliest stage of the training up to the channeling process of the potential candidates to her corresponding Cruise Ship Companies.
Ketut Sarini explained that her business began from The Food and Beverages Course Service established by Dewi Baruna Amertasari. The course provided training that helped students to gain expertise in hospitality on cruise ships. At the beginning, her course cooperated with a labour agency in Bali to provide opportunities for those students who wanted to work on a cruise ship.
However, the process of cruise ship recruitment was not run as it was expected, students were faced with barriers regarding accommodation since they needed to communicate with both the course provider and the agency. To overcome the problems that were faced by students in terms of fulfilling the administrative works, accommodation and etc, The Foundation agreed to take a step into establishing a company under the name of PT Sri Dewi Baruna. Ketut Sarini, who was appointed as the Director, gave her best effort for facilitating the needs of the candidates who were willing to work in the cruise.
Ketut Sarini described that her company had few competitive values compared to other similar agencies in Bali. Firstly, it offers a more affordable cost thus anyone can get an opportunity to get access to the training and their chances to be accepted in the work field will be wider. Secondly, it guarantees that the qualities of the human resources provided by her agency will be able to meet the standard required by the cruise company. She assured this since she, herself, involved and guided the students closely going through the training from the very first start until the performance evaluation process. Her dedication in facilitating them not only for them to get internships in hotels but she wanted them to succeed in their career.
Her company’s commitment for channeling skillful human resources has made it gain trust from cruise ship companies. Its reputation, during the 2020 Pandemic Wave, has been proven. In the midst of an economic crisis due to the pandemic, the agency located in Jl. Tendean No. 88, Desa Banjar Anyar, Kediri, Tabanan, Bali, still managed to keep its commitment in channeling students working in the cruises. She assured that all the training processes during this time run by following policies related to the COVID 19 Prevention Health Protocol in order to guarantee that all the trainee graduates were always at their best health conditions. Until now, PT Sri Dewi Baruna has succeeded in channeling more than a thousand Balinese human resources working in cruise ships.
An Inspiring Experience
Ketut Sarini’s spirit and motivation in channeling Balinese human resources in achieving their dream job of working overseas was inspired from her true experience as a cruise ship crew back then. As one of what is called “Indonesian ‘foreign exchange heroin’, she had worked there for seven years. It was closed to the end of her employment contract, when she was inspired to conduct something that would benefit others who had similar dreams as hers. This 36-year-old lady would like to spread values through her insights and experiences as she worked at the ship.
Her principles for always sharing with others was forged by her personal struggle in her early life. She, herself, had experienced the hardship of life that triggered her willingness to help others in need. Her life experiences were full of obstacles, even striving for a better life had become her best friend since she was young. The poor financial condition of her family had forced her to work to provide funding for her own education.
With passion of enhancing their standard of life, Sarini was determined in deciding her journey to Surabaya seeking a job. She had just graduated junior high school at that time. She did different kinds of jobs to make a living and pay for her school fee. Despite her feelings for missing her family a lot, especially her beloved grandmother who had been her very best friend, she had to bear her miserable feeling to be able to move forward for a brighter future.
It was unfortunate that her grandmother, who had not got a chance to reunite with her beloved granddaughter, had passed away. It made Ketut Sarini decide to return back home, to Bali. As she got back to Bali, she continued to work diligently alongside sharing and caring for others as well. One of her unique experiences of sharing with others was when she met an old woman who approached her and begged for food. The old woman, who was a stranger, said that she would like to exchange the food from Sarini with a packet of cooking salt.
“I said to the old woman, ‘Let alone cook some meals for you, I don’t even have any food supplies to be cooked’. The old woman then replied that one day I would definitely be able to fulfil, even more, my daily needs and that I would be able to share with others in need. I stepped into the house to get her something to eat but as I got back to the yard, where she was waiting, she had disappeared. It was a really strange experience”, recalled ketut Sarini. Through the strange event Ketut Sarini determined to work as hard as possible so that she would be able to share her blessings with others, as what the strange old woman wished for her.
All of her hard work she had done and prayers she had said at last came beautifully to fruition when she got a favour of a job offer on a cruise ship. Ketut Sarini narrated that it took her sometimes to accept that offer due to her hesitation for working overseas. She had heard terrifying rumors that arose upon female migrant worker’s safety and security issues on a cruise. Back then, the number of female cruise ship crews was as many as or even less than our fingers. Her hesitation was finally vanished since her eagerness of yielding great fortune was greater than her fear
“When working in the cruise ship, I witnessed there were equal treatments between male and female workers. All personnel were treated equally in accordance with their rights and responsibilities. She emphasized that the most important thing for one to survive in working in a cruise is being professional because as long as a worker prioritized his/her professionalism then there would not be any barriers in conducting any duties and responsibilities within this profession.
The cruise was not only a working place, where Ketut Sarini earned her great amount of fortune but it was also the place where she found the love of her life. She met her husband-to-be on the cruise and after a while they decided to get married. After the marriage, her husband fully and respectfully supported Ketut Sarini’s decision to actualize herself in pursuing her top career and establish the Cruise Ship Training Agencies that channels students to work in a cruise ship.
Ketut Sarini realized that the success she achieved is the fruit of her hard work and blessing from God Almighty. Thus, she always wants to express her gratitude by setting aside some of her fortune and spreading benefit for others. She regularly holds charity events to help those in need. Her action was mostly driven by the fact that during the pandemic, there were more and more people who were lacking of daily life support, who still needs help from all of us, thereby she used her time to spread kindness by sharing and caring for more.
Ketut Sarini sent a moral message to the young generations that in the midst of their hard works in reaching for their dreams they must be persistent and consistent in putting up their efforts. Through perseverance and hard work many people win success. Strive for the best and never give up.
