by Astrid Berg, author of Mixed Bood: Reconciling My Colonial Family’s History in the Dutch East Indies. In August while visiting The Hague and riding my bike, I came upon the Indisch Monument in de Scheveningse Bosjes (large park in The Hague) near Madurodam. I had been there many times before. This time I had…
by Sheldon Krancher Discovering Indo Pride Through My Childhood Paper Route It was just after 4:00 AM on a brisk spring morning when I heard the rumble of the truck that dropped the Fresno Bee on our front porch. Just over 260 newspapers, four routes in total, between myself and my brother. I was only…
August 15th is the annual commemoration of the end of WWII in the former Dutch East Indies. An event in which we honor those who suffered and sacrificed their lives. The Indo Project is proud to be present at major events held in The Netherlands representing all the Indos worldwide who were deeply affected by…
by Benjamin Jacobs The Story Behind the Indo Girl Logo Before the war, my father was an art and engineering student. He was also in the Dutch army. My father was an artist at heart and was creative in everything he did. More importantly, he was a husband and father. Here’s his story and the…
[Photo: The Hague, after 1933. Oma Moesje is second from the right wearing white] The Story of my Indo Oma By Robert Kaya Before I even met my Oma, she already had a long and interesting life. She was born in Kota Raja, Aceh in 1891 as the ninth of ten children. Her father was a…
“Who was in which lifeboat?” A mission by Peter Versteeg to find out which of the three remaining lifeboats his father traveled in — as one of 116 survivors of the sunken “Poelau Bras” — and who were in the other two lifeboats? www.poelau-bras.nl (To translate this website from Dutch to English: Go to Google…
The Indo Project asked its followers on social media, “How did your mother or oma instill Indo culture in you?” TIP is pleased to share some of its followers’ responses below. Look for the Good in People Look for the good in people, my mom said. ~ Nicky Thornton Guerrero Always Have Enough Food I learned…
by Astrid Berg, PhD During childhood, I had little connection to my Indonesian roots. I rarely heard Maleis (Malay) or Javaans (Javanese) spoken. I only had a slight relationship to Indo/Indische customs and culture. Both my parents appeared European. My mother is Dutch, and the Indonesian influences were subtle in my Indo father. I was…
The following is a written adaptation of a monologue performed by Ingrid Dümpel on International Women’s Day at Nia Domo (a community center) in Boekel, Netherlands. “I felt like a bird with too little flying experience being thrown out of the nest! And in my husband’s world, I remained the spring chicken, because he was…
by Sjoekje Sas(a)bone, LCSW, EMHA Click here for a word from the author. At eighteen years old, my father was a P.O.W. KNIL soldier during WWII Japanese occupation (approximately 3.5 years). At nineteen, he witnessed a civilian diagonally sliced (shoulder to waist) with a samurai sword by a Japanese soldier who lost aim during this…