Institut Teknologi Bandung

Elnaya achieved this by winning a competition last April from UNESCO, namely the UNESCO Indonesia Essay Competition 2021 on Valuing Water. She gained victory through her work entitled "The Distinctive and Prominent Prevalence of Water Appreciation and Mental Wellness".

When interviewed on Thursday (23/9/2021) through the Zoom Meeting platform, Elnaya shared her experience in this essay competition. Her story started when she heard the announcement of the winner. Frankly, she was surprised because the competition was very prestigious and the participants came from worldwide. "The most important thing for me is to be grateful. There was a sense of disbelief, but I was delighted," said her, who is often called Naya.

Then she told her experience when she wanted to join this competition. Initially, she got this information from a woman who shared a poster in a chat group. She was hesitant to participate in this competition because she was busy with college, organizations, et cetera. "I was not sure about taking part in this competition. I was not in good condition that time," she explained. However, nearing the essay submission deadline, Naya managed to change her mindset. She considered that writing is a personal therapy for herself.

"So I changed my mindset and assumed it like a refreshment. Not as a competition, but just as an opportunity," she added. Elnaya has always loved writing. She poured all of her thoughts and opinions into an article written on a blog and so on.

Besides being confident, she was also confused. As an Environmental Engineering student, the topic of water should be a strength for her. However, she does not really understand the correlation, specifically between water and human life. So when she wrote her essay, she faced various difficulties, mainly when researching and collecting data. However, from this process, she is thankful that she could improve her research skills and appreciate water more with a new perspective.

The topic of her paper focused on the quality of drinking water. "Actually, it is general, but there is a bit of a focus on drinking water," she explained. The essay included a lot of biological studies. Naya herself does much research in neurology and psychology to find out and examine the relationship between drinking water quality and human biological conditions. From some of the data she found, it is known that the quality of drinking water affects the number of neurotransmitters in our brains. It also affects the process of breathing and digestion.

In general, her essay also discussed the relationship between environmental health and mental health. "Just imagine if we have to live and adapt in a place where the water is dirty and cloudy though we are used to drinking clean water. Surely, this influences mental health because we feel uncomfortable," Naya gave an analogy.

According to her, the experience she wrote in the essay also contributed to this victory. In that essay, she was pretty open about her experience as a depression survivor. Moreover, at that time, she lacked water intake did not follow the general standard. Hence, her essay has its characteristics and deserves to be considered as a winner.

Naya's achievement certainly makes her family very happy. She is very grateful to them for supporting and strengthening her. "Thank you, Mami, Papi, my brother Gerald, who have always been there. Never in my life felt like they were not there to encourage me. Thank you for giving so much love in my life," said Naya very sincerely.

Then she recommended that other ITB students keep praying to God and trying even under challenging situations. "Just because some doors are closed by God, that does not mean He will not open the others," she concluded. She said that God is precisely at work when we are in the most difficult situations. She also advised other students to continue making positive contributions and doing good things because we will not know which door will be opened for us.

As a closing, she quoted the author Andrea Hirata. "God knows, but He waits,"

Reporter: Kevin Agriva Ginting (Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, 2020)
Translator: Zahra Annisa Fitri (Urban and Regional Planning, 2019)