On a sunny afternoon on Java Island in Indonesia, sunlight filters through the trees and falls across the grounds of SGPJB, a subsidiary of CHN Energy. A group of local children, led by their teachers, walk into the plant and stop before a memorial tree named Ani’s Wishes.
As Eid al-Fitr approaches, just days earlier on March 13, the company’s employees had delivered 2,600 food packages to families in need in nearby villages. This warmth, along with years of ongoing educational support, all traces back to the wish of an Indonesian mother named Tulus Martini, who called herself Ani in Chinese.
Sponsored students and representatives of community teachers visiting SGPJB
Born in 1989, Ani was an Indonesian employee of SGPJB. Having worked in Taiwan, She spoke fluent Chinese and often helped facilitate communication between Chinese and Indonesian colleagues, serving as a vital bridge across language barriers.
As a single mother, Ani had three simple wishes: to settle down near the plant, to bring her son to live with her and attend middle school while learning Chinese, and to save enough money to send him to university in China one day. However, in 2021, Ani passed away from bone cancer, leaving these wishes unfulfilled and deeply regretted by her family and colleagues.
At first, a few Chinese colleagues voluntarily pooled money to help Ani’s child through immediate difficulties after losing his mother. But this small act of kindness quickly spread throughout the power plant. After hearing Ani’s story, more and more Chinese and Indonesian employees joined in. In the end, over 5,900 people contributed, raising more than 400,000 yuan (around 58,000 USD). The Ani’s Wishes education fund was thus established.
In the view of Teng Yue, director of the Administrative and Human Resources Department, the Indonesian cultural value of sharing both good fortune and hardship encouraged local employees to join hands with their Chinese colleagues in making this effort a reality.
SGPJB holding a donation event for the “Ani’s Wishes” Scholarship Fund
In 2023, the fund began by covering the educational expenses of Ani’s son and helping plan his future. If he wishes, he may pursue an engineering degree and return to work at the power plant after graduation, or continue his studies in China. Wang Ying, a Chinese colleague, remembered the boy’s interest in music and arranged for an erhu (a Chinese musical instrument) to be delivered to him. Soon after, everyone received a video of the boy earnestly playing the instrument, which deeply moved them.
Sustaining a cross-border fund requires more than goodwill alone. To ensure compliance and transparency, the employees approached charity work with the same rigor they apply to engineering projects. Applicants for assistance must undergo thorough field investigations.
Anggia Sihombing, manager of Public Relations Department, recalled that to verify a case, a staff volunteer once drove 500 kilometers to visit a recipient’s hometown in person. Meanwhile, Bambang Supriyatno, executive manager of Public Relations Department, and his colleagues resolved cross-border funding compliance issues through local registration and by engaging professional legal counsel. By 2024, the fund expanded its scope beyond Ani’s son to include four additional underprivileged children from nearby communities.
The flow of funds has also brought people closer together. In an activity called “Hearts Connected, Painting the World Together”, more than 80 children from China and Indonesia were paired online to jointly create over 150 paintings. Indonesia’s Jakarta–Bandung High-Speed Railway, the Saman dance of Eid celebrations, and China’s lion dance for the Spring Festival all appeared together on the same sheets of paper.
Children showing their paintings at the activity
Proceeds from auctioning the artworks were fully returned to the education fund. To facilitate daily communication, the plant also established a language association, where Anggia and her Chinese and Indonesian colleagues became each other’s language teachers after work.
Wang You, director of the General Management Department, has worked in Indonesia for nearly a decade and witnessed the fund grow from nothing. To him, the fact that people from two countries could overcome differences in nationality and language to accomplish such a meaningful act together represents a rare and valuable bond.
For Teng Yue, who has visited many recipient families, the feeling is even more tangible: “Seeing the children able to attend school with peace of mind because of this support, and watching colleagues from both countries come together through this effort, makes every contribution worthwhile.”
Day after day, the sea breeze continues to sweep across the power plant on Java Island. Today, Ani’s Wishes live on. What began as a mother’s simple wishies have crossed borders, continuing to bring warmth to more and more people.
