Young people write up their own family histories
Young people write up their own family histories
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
For Nona Yoani Sara, 12, history is no longer a boring subject
full of irrelevant events taking place years even before her
father was born, that have to be memorized in order to pass a
test in school.
She and her brother Anang Saptoto, 22, have written their own
history about family businesses, one of which is run by their
grandmother who arduously (at least in their eyes) works for a
food stall that makes their home hot and humid, yet at the same
time feeds them and many other people.
"In the 22 years of my life, I still witness the fortitude of
a 63-year-old woman running a business for the sake of providing
for the family," Anang wrote in an essay about the family's
business at Jl. Letjen S. Parman No. 91 in Yogyakarta.
"She is Ibu Hj. Moch. Ali, my grandmother," he continued.
Besides the food stall, the family has also run a rubber stamp
business since 1946.
In a different family history, Yuli Andari, 25, a student at
Gadjah Mada University, unraveled a family saga about the
forbidden romance of her parents.
"My father was a Javanese schoolteacher on the island of
Sumbawa in West Nusatenggara, where my mother was born as an
eldest child of a noble family, a descendent of Sumbawa's princes
and princesses," Andari said.
To write this bit of family history, Andari interviewed her
father and mother.
Her father, Soekardjo, recalled the time when he first saw
Siti Mutmaenah, Andari's mother.
"She looked beautiful when she was wearing the kebaya ...,"
Soekardjo told her daughter.
Like Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell in the movie Four Weddings
and a Funeral, Siti and Soekardjo first met at a friend's wedding
in 1972.
Soon, Siti's extended family found out about their
relationship and interfered with the relationship, because as a
blue-blooded woman, Siti should marry a man of noble birth.
But Siti was determined to marry Soekardjo. After an elder
princess gave a green light to the lovebirds, Siti's family
agreed to allow Soekardjo propose to Siti.
But with a price ...
"I can't believe it! The dowry is really expensive ...," said
Andari's father, relating his reaction when he heard what Siti's
family were demanding in exchange for her hand.
"The interesting thing I found out from the interview with my
father was that the Javanese community in Sumbawa gave
significant assistance to my father," Andari said.
When the community heard about the price of the dowry, they
summoned Soekardjo. After assessing Soekardjo's seriousness about
marrying Siti, the community agreed to pitch in the money to
fulfill the dowry, Andari said.
"Those are some of the Javanese," Andari told the Post,
pointing at a wedding photograph where some men sporting black
Western suits were sitting.
Andari's parents' marriage was the first mixed ethnic marriage
in this royal family.
"My parent's marriage thus paved the way for other family
members to do the same because they saw that a mixed marriage
could work just fine," she said.
When asked what was the use of knowing and writing her family
history herself, Andari thought for a moment.
"I just think having this knowledge is important so you can
know yourself better," she said.