A little over a week after I posted Daughter Of Atmoko, my husband received a job offer from a company he had interviewed with the week before. It was a family business, but it had grown to be one of Dubai’s best property valuation companies. After close to 1,000 job applications over the course of one year, he finally had a win.

No matter the scale of the company or the job itself, I believe it was no small feat. While I had the privilege of studying in 3 different countries, granting me international exposure, my husband only studied in Indonesia. Sure, ITB is the most prestigious university back home, such that just mentioning its name on your profile brings you high regard with instantaneous “smart and ambitious” branding, but abroad it means nothing. Because no one here knows much about Indonesia, let alone which school births out golden eggs.

So he didn’t have the same leverage from his alma mater here in Dubai as he would in Jakarta. Not to mention the crazy times we’re living in today, where almost everyone wants to move to Dubai but absolutely no one is getting hired. To illustrate, our friend who’s working at one of the Big 4 was getting messages from random colleagues in the U.S. to get a referral to apply to Dubai; meanwhile, we have another friend who’s worked and lived here for 8 years struggling to get a new job, rendering her 8 months unemployed, despite having worked in one of the world’s biggest tech company.

Thankfully, both my friend and my husband have now secured their jobs. But again, it was no small feat. Needless to say, I am extremely proud of him.

Although we still have much to achieve and ample room to improve, knowing that my husband will no longer run on a resume gap after sacrificing his 5-year-long career for me takes a huge burden off my shoulders. It brings me joy to and ease to see him get ready for work and doing what he does best—providing for the people he loves.

All praise to Allah…