Dessy Fitri overcomes odds with a smile

By Hera Diani

JAKARTA (JP): In the middle of a freezing night during the filming of Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sand) in the desert near Mount Bromo, East Java, singer Dessy Fitri was praying for the strength to overcome the excruciating pain in her legs.

"Please, please God, I want to be in this movie. Please, if it stops here, then what about my service to you? Please, give me the strength."

She repeated the words over and over. And it worked. She finished the movie, playing the role of Sukma, a disabled orphan.

In many respects, she was acting out her own story.

The 20-something singer (she won't give her exact age, saying "It will ruin my chances") is about four-feet tall, the result of medical malpractice.

"I was around five or six years old at the time. I was sick and I'm not sure what it was. They said I lacked ultraviolet light or vitamin D," Dessy said.

Her mother's family recommended surgery, while her father's family suggested massage.

The recommendation from her mother's side of the family won out and a doctor at St. Carolus Hospital in Central Jakarta operated on Dessy.

"But he made a mistake. He should have cut vertically, but he did the opposite," Dessy said, adding that she just stopped growing after the operation.

"If only we'd listened to my father's relatives. But God apparently had another plan," said the Pentecostal Christian.

The operation left Dessy with some 40 stitches in her legs, which is something that she now views with some pride.

"My friends always brag about how many stitches they have had, but I'm always the winner," she says with a laugh.

Spend some time with Dessy and it soon becomes evident she is a cheerful and talkative person who likes to laugh and joke. But she says that was not always so, and for a time she suffered from low self-esteem and was full of envy.

"I mean, my younger brothers outgrew me and I envied them. But over time, and with the help of religion, I realized I'm no different from other people," said Dessy, who is dating Bagus, the singer for the rock band Netral.

Dessy is now a show business veteran, giving up college to pursue her dream of singing.

"I went to college for a year. But then I went to a band festival in Tokyo and lots of gigs followed, so I decided to quit. I preferred to earn some money rather than go to school," she laughs.

She has released several albums, including an album of hymns, recording several of them in Singapore and Malaysia.

However, in 1996 she fell ill again, losing movement in her legs and having to use a wheelchair.

Doctors were baffled by her condition, so she turned to prayer.

"I said, 'God, please, I want to be useful. I really want to. Please let me recover.'"

She did recover, though she still has to use a cane because walking a few meters leaves her exhausted.

Last year, she was asked to audition for Pasir (director Nan T. Achnas said she fell in love with Dessy's voice) and got the part.

Dessy described the filming of the movie as an invaluable experience, her first big movie role and working with such respected actors as Christine Hakim and Slamet Rahardjo.

"They are, like, my parents' idols," she said.

Yet it was also an extremely difficult experience for her because of the harsh conditions near Mount Bromo.

The temperature in the desert can fall to minus three degrees Celsius at night, which at times almost proved too much for Dessy.

"It really, really hurt. Thank God, Mang Udel (who played her grandfather in the movie) brought an electric blanket to warm my legs. And before and after shooting a scene, I wrapped my legs in aluminum foil and this super thick feather blanket.

"But it was still not enough. Maybe because I am starting to get old," she laughs.

Dessy, along with the other actors, also had to work on their tans for the movie.

"As a village girl, I had to have darker skin. But even though we sunbathed, we still weren't that tanned. So, to give the effect of dark skin, we had coconut oil smeared on our faces.

"But the whole experience was worth it. I thank God for that, for giving me strength."

As for her relationship with Bagus, she says they still have some things to work out.

"We have different religions. Well, we just hope for the best," she says with that quick smile of hers.