I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Juliana in the tranquil garden of her home in East Bellevue. We were surrounded by flowers, trees, and the sound of a rippling stream coming from a lovely water feature. I could see why she found solace here as it was a place to sit, reflect, and regain strength after a very busy day.
In 1989, Juliana came to America from Indonesia. She was 15 years old at the time and the oldest of three girls. Her family lived and worked in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital and at that time home to over nine million people. Her grandparents were immigrants from China and were considered a minority in the predominantly Islamic country. Life in the underdeveloped and turbulent country was hard. Perhaps it was because Juliana was the oldest daughter, or perhaps it was in her DNA, but she was determined to pursue a better life for herself and her family. So, when she was 13 and saw an ad in a local paper about a foreign exchange program, she told her mother that she was going to America!
Two years later and at the age of 15, Juliana stepped off an airplane and arrived in the small town of St. Anthony, ID. Located in the southeastern corner of Idaho, St. Anthony is north of Rexburg, ID, and was home to just over 3,000 people. South Fremont High School, home to the Cougars, had roughly 300 students in the four grades and would become Juliana’s school for the year.
It was here in St. Anthony, where she lived with her host family, The Sessions, that Juliana was introduced to her first and thereafter favorite horse, and she felt an immediate connection and love for these animals. The school hosted several exchange students that year, and Betty Fisher, the regional representative from the exchange program, wanted to create a real American experience for these students, and so planned a visit to the local rodeo grounds to meet the horses. The local newspaper captured the outing, and Juliana saved a clipping from the newspaper and placed it into her photo album along with many photos capturing her stay in the States. After the outing, Juliana and several of the other exchange students returned to the barn and negotiated mucking stalls in return for additional time in the saddle. The night before leaving St. Anthony, she went back to the barn one last time to say “goodbye” to her favorite horse and remembers tears streaming down both of their cheeks.
Fast forward to 2021, Juliana now lives in Bellevue and works for Microsoft. She attended Knox College in Illinois, received her masters from American University in Washington D.C., and worked as a consultant before landing a position with Microsoft. Her family is here. She has two children of her own and throughout this time, horses were her refuge. She included them in her vacation plans and looked for opportunities to ride (western) whenever she could. She still does. She fulfilled her dream to pursue a better life here in America, through determination and hard work, but with that came additional challenges that took a toll on her personally. She sought out a therapist and during one of her sessions, she heard about equine-facilitated psychotherapy. This led her to Little Bit. She started treatments during the COVID pandemic, so her time at Little Bit was limited, but within minutes of meeting Little Bit’s Princess, there was a connection. Princess sensed Juliana needed support and provided much-needed attention.
This past Little Bit Auction, Juliana bid on and won the naming of the outdoor arena for one year. She had been thinking about her connection to Little Bit, the horses and how it began, and pulled out her old photo album from her exchange year. She found the newspaper clipping that she saved as an exchange student, and on the top of the clipping she had written the name of her favorite horse shown in the photo: “Little Bit!” She cried. I cried.
Life has a way of coming full circle, providing opportunities that in the moment you don’t really understand. For Juliana, her early relationship with Little Bit the horse was meant to happen and paved the way, 30 plus years later, to Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center. And for that, she is grateful, and so are we!
Written by Sanda Anderson
