Happiness from the Great Distance

          Last summer vacation I came back to Indonesia for holiday. I didn't expect that Mpok Nyai came to visit us. Mpok is a term that I use to call the older woman in Betawi's dialect (dialect which is used in Jakarta). Mpok Nyai was our maid when my mother was a teenager. Even though she is already retired, she visited us and told her story life with her grandchildren. My mother said that even she was a maid, my mother consider her as a part of our family.
          One week before I back to Taiwan, she came to see me. I was very happy because she was a nice person with a great personality.  Most people would be happy and laugh listening to her jokes. However, besides her friendly character, she had an unforgettable story. One day when she was giving birth to her baby, she couldn't pay for the hospital cost. Unfortunately, she had to leave her baby boy in the hospital and must find some money for the fee in a week. However she hadn't had the money and when she came back about one week later, the baby had been taken away. She was very upset and hope that the baby would be in the good hands.
          About 17 years later, the boy came back! Amazingly, he was adopted by a Dutch family. So, what actually happened in the hospital was, there were a Dutch couple who came for adopting a child and took Mpok Nyai child as theirs. After he had grown up, his Dutch parents gave a permission to him to find his real mother, Mpok Nyai in Indonesia. When they finally met each other, both of them were crying happily. The name of her son is Siswoyo. After meeting each other, Siswoyo finally came back to Netherlands and had his own life there.

          This photo was taken during my summer holiday in Indonesia. That time, Mpok Nyai was ironing our clothes while I saw her son's facebook. Siswoyo had a newborn baby girl! I knew it because he posted it. Then, I told Mpok Nyai and she was really excited to know her grandchildren. When I showed the photos, she was really happy and asked me to print the photo, so that she could bring it home and told her relatives that she had grandchildren. I took this photo because I wanted to show it to Siswoyo on facebook that Mpok Nyai was proud to be a grandmother. This photo is really meaningful for me because I could help both of them to know that even the distance was separating them, but Siswoyo could share the happiness and joyfulness to Mpok Nyai with the photo of his family. Moreover, Siswoyo must be very touched to see it because his mother knew that he is a father now. In the end, I am happy to be the mediator for Siswoyo and Mpok Nyai, to see the beautiful life that even mother and son were separated, Mpok Nyai still loves him and prays for his son.  Mpok Nyai said to me that she hoped she could go to Netherlands someday to see Siswoyo.