Ni Gusti Paramiti
Apr 20, 2022
Introducing……. 55 FACES woman #89
Ni Gusti Paramiti, also known as Ibu Gusti Unik
Born in Bali and living in Bali
47 years old
This is who I am in the world….
I am curious. I studied economics in Surabaya in 1990, following my childhood dream of being an entrepreneur lady. I started out working with my father in his fabric company and 100 other men. I didn’t want to be a worker, I wanted to be a creator. People said to me “how will you make money and make a change if you are not a worker?”.
I had a company in Bali and we went through the 1998 economic crash, the collapse of tourism, money and jobs in 1998, 2002 and 20004. When the Bali bombs hit, all of my friends said goodbye to Bali. Our export buyers said “no more” as it became too expensive. My business fell down, at the same time as my marriage. My daughter was six months old and I wanted to finish my life and carry her from above.
A friend told me to cry on her shoulder as no one could take me from this life. Nature answered me. I saw an advertisement looking for beauty therapists to go to Moscow. I had no background in beauty therapy, however began three months training and went to live in Moscow and after my contract there, I worked in Turkey, before returning to my village in Bali.
In 2012 I built a small course in my village for the children there. I hoped that with the course, the children would have the opportunity to learn more than what they could in school. I wanted to provide a safe place for students and in two years, the small group kept growing, growing, and growing. These children were different and my knowledge about them was limited. Some were blind, had cerebral palsy, and some had an intellectual disability that I didn’t know about.
The small groups were very hard to run with so many students across five classes. Each class had a couple of children with different behaviour. At that time, I said “I give up”. The teachers had told me that they would resign if these kids stayed in the school. It was a difficult situation as I began the school for these children and I also felt that they should be comfortable.
I was brave. I called the most expensive Psychiatrist in Bali. I had a brave heart and no money. I told her that I had too much in my head and shoulders, but I couldn’t give up. She responded quickly and seriously and told me that she would guide me to help the children with intellectual disabilities. These children are not crazy and they are not mentally ill. They are unique children. I said that in the next five to ten years, these children would be the Professors of change and be normal in Bali. The Psychiatrist said to me “no, your knowledge of intellectual disability is very small”. Before this conversation, my book was closed. I began by learning one thing about the children I was caring for.
The Psychiatrist informed that she would guide me to develop one small group. A couple from the Netherlands helped me to build the Unik Children Foundation, a place for learning, play, and self-development for children with intellectual difficulties.
I am now well known as Ibu Unik Mum. People call me Unik Mum because I am the Founder of Unik Children Foundation. The Unik children are children with intellectual disabilities. This is now my life. I wanted to be an entrepreneur woman to have money and the career. Life said to me to be the Founder of Unik Children. Life called for me to be a Social entrepreneur with a calling deep in my heart. My daughter is 22 years old and is currently studying Psychology in Java and it is her dream is to continue my dream with my school.
This is the story I want next written for women….
I am proud to be born a woman. I am proud to be a mother. Only women can birth the next generation and women hold more space to create something new in the world.
I say to my daughter that it is ok to break down. A safe place is fine, but you also need to think outside the box, and this starts from yourself.
In my role, I question how to better include the family in providing support for children living with disabilities. Bali can be a difficult place for people to be open minded and people tend to keep things on their shoulders.
For women across Bali, knowledge and education is the base of our lives, to give us harmony and to get a better life, job, salary, relationship, and it also offers us solutions. The women I see today who have the most challenges, they are the ones without an education. Whether the education is formal or not, knowledge is the solution to all problems in the world.
I have two major areas of interest- helping special people and helping women have an education so that they can broaden their horizons. I believe that education supports social interaction, our spiritual, our mental, our practical wellbeing and it is the base of human life. From this, we get solutions, self-awareness and we can encourage others.
This is the story that I next want to write for myself….
I want to remain consistent in my influence and encouragement of education in all forms. I want to be an independent woman, financially and also in taking responsibility and making decisions for myself. In Bali, the man is number one and there is a very narrow space for women to speak up. We need to have a very big heart to share and make our dreams come true. This is still a big job for women in Bali.
I don’t believe in getting older and my age is only a number. With age comes more creativity, experience, and knowledge to grow further. I still feel like I’m sweet 17 with so much time to learn! With age comes more wisdom, more prosperity, more wellbeing, more happiness, and more family time.
I believe that a smile in the family of intellectual disability is the rarest smile in the world as these families carry so much on their shoulders. My job is to create a smile. A smile from the heart, not a fake one. These are the most expensive smiles in the world. I want to continue to influence these families. I want to know and learn more and to be a detective for more information.
If the child is ok, the parents are ok, the neighbours are ok, everyone is smiling, and an important impact has been made.
Author
Michelle Gardener
Author
Michelle Gardener is a Coach, Author, Yogi, Blogger and Inspirational Speaker. She educates women all over the world in Social Change Leadership and is dedicated to pioneering the most amount of impact possible through helping women create social projects that do good for our world.
Categories
All Categories