Zero to Hero
It's funny how your life can suddenly change. You can live many years of your life in the same ordinary way, living the same routine and doing the same things everyday, but in just a blink of an eye, your world can turn up side down, for the better of course! For a lot of people, this happens on the day they first come to Dive Central Gili and meet one of our fantastic PADI instructors that work here.
This happened just under one year ago for one of our students. Yamin is originally from Bandung, Indonesia. He planned a one week vacation and, like many Indonesians, his chosen destination was the island of Gili Trawangan.
During his stay, he thought he would try some scuba diving. Not being the strongest swimmer and with limited knowledge in English, Yamin was understandably a little nervous, the same as most people are when they come in to try breathing underwater for the first time.
By the end of Yamin's first dive to Turtle Heaven, he was sold! He knew that this was what he wanted to do - for the rest of his life! After 3 more days and completing his PADI Open Water certification with flying colors, Yamin left to go back to his family in Bandung.
But that feeling, the feeling of restlessness he had, the feeling of wonder and the feeling of excitement for scuba diving didn't go away. After just 2 weeks back at home, he decided to come back to Dive Central Gili. This time with a goal - I want to become like you, I want to become a PADI instructor!
From that day, Yamin's life changed. Quickly moving from PADI Open Water to PADI Advanced Open Water, experiencing his first dives to 30 meters, diving at night time, trying Nitrox, improving his buoyancy, and gradually becoming a better diver. As the days and courses passed our team noticed the change in Yamin. Diving is an amazing confidence builder. By achieving something through PADI courses your self esteem can soar. Yamin came to us as quite shy person with quite a language barrier, we could see his confidence building, and we could see how big his passion for diving was - his passion even encouraged other students who were diving with us at the time!
The next step was to complete the PADI rescue course. By this time Yamin had already spent three weeks with us, he had no problems taking on the tasks involved in the course, his confidence and knowledge was already there.
After 40 logged dives, it was time to start his PADI Divemaster course; learning how to become a professional. This was a great way for Yamin to build his teaching skills; he assisted on every course possible. He was always (and still is) the first person to come in to the shop in the morning, setting up tanks for everyone else and then, whilst having breakfast, planning how the courses should be conducted. Yamin was an instructor at heart, before he was even certified! Everyday he was pushing him self harder to learn more and expanding his personality, his skills and his knowledge.
Yamin is presenting a surface marker buoy, the knowledge part of the instructor course. Photo borrowed from Trawangan Dive.
Yamin's dedication and passion did not go unnoticed, even the PADI and Indonesia's regional manager was highly impressed! So when Yamin expressed an interest in completing his Instructor Development Course, PADI stepped in and suggested they would sponsor him to complete the course for him. By PADI sponsoring Yamin, he was able to follow his dream in becoming an instructor, he could also still economically support his family and girlfriend at home in Bandung. Being a PADI instructor in Indonesia, your salary can match that of an Indonesian bank manager, so by becoming and PADI instructor Yamin secured the future, for himself and also for all of the people that he loves.
Finally the day came when Yamin could stand on the beach of Gili Trawangan, holding his his Instructors diploma, and his life ahead of him. And we couldn't be more proud of him and the journey that he has been on. It is crazy how life can suddenly change! One day your future suddenly appears in front of you and your options can be endless. By joining the PADI organisation you can reach your dream - regardless of your history, nationality, and financial status. PADI simply is - the way the world learns to dive. '
