May 2011 - Subud Voice
May 2011 - Subud Voice
May 2011 - Subud Voice
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that time it was still very remote and isolated and the nearest<br />
house was 500 meters away.<br />
My husband’s job was to find grass for 7 cows and 6 deer which<br />
were owned by a farmer nearby. Each day he would go out to the<br />
forest and fields to get enough feed for the animals. He was paid<br />
US$ 4 per month and it was paid every three months. <strong>May</strong>be you<br />
can imagine how hard we struggled to survive especially since we<br />
had a young baby.<br />
Because of this I begged my husband’s employer to allow him to find another job on the side and I promised we<br />
would continue to fulfill our responsibility to find the feed for the animals. I told my husband I would find the feed<br />
for the animals while he could look for other work. With a heavy heart my husband accepted my suggestion<br />
because he could see that there was no other way for us to survive.<br />
My husband worked in any job he could find. Each morning he left at 5 am and would come home at 8 pm or later.<br />
This left me and Niluh in charge of finding the feed for the animals. I carried her on my back strapped on with a<br />
cloth and each day we would go to the jungle to cut grass and find bark and leaves.<br />
I carried the feed back in a large cart that was 1.5 meters wide x 2 meters long and when it was full, it weighed<br />
200kg. When people saw a woman (me) pushing such a big and heavy cart plus carrying a baby, they were quite<br />
shocked and couldn’t believe that I could do it. Sometimes people were kind and would help push it for me for<br />
some of the distance.<br />
I Had a Happy Heart<br />
<strong>May</strong>be for some people they would have felt burdened by this job, but instead I had a happy heart to carry out my<br />
work because I believed in the greatness of God that is most<br />
generous and all caring, and merciful and I felt that we were<br />
always protected by God. With enthusiasm and trust in God as<br />
my working capital, my daughter and I each day would go<br />
alone into the jungle to work. While I was cutting grass I<br />
would lay my baby in the cart to sleep.<br />
I did this job every day for two years and only occasionally<br />
was my husband able to help me. As a woman I also had my<br />
duties as a wife, carrying water from the well, cooking and<br />
washing clothes etc. My daughter Niluh rarely saw her father<br />
during this time as she was still asleep when he left the house<br />
and already asleep when he returned from work.<br />
The wages I earned increased from US$4 a month to $7.50<br />
and I was grateful for the extra money. During these two<br />
‘We were looking for<br />
’<br />
peace and harmony<br />
in our household, but<br />
what could we do?<br />
The family. At the back: Ibu Faustina and Alvira.<br />
In front: Zarina, Sulfiati,and Pak Umaryadi<br />
years, we were able to save some money, and our life improved when we were able to buy a bed, a mattress, a<br />
cupboard and food. When my daughter was 4 years old my husband and I had the wish to join an insurance fund<br />
for the education of our daughter, as we didn’t want her to have a similar life to ours and we were willing to<br />
sacrifice other things to make sure she could be educated.<br />
We knew that by putting the money aside this way, we would not be able to be tempted to use it for other things. It<br />
was only because of this fund, that she was able to finish high school; otherwise we couldn’t have afforded it. For<br />
this insurance we paid US $ 3 per month, which may not seem like a lot, but it was still a struggle for us to pay it.<br />
When our daughter was 5 we returned to live with my in-laws because they were sick and needed us to look after them.<br />
My husband is the oldest of 5 children and he was the only one that was married while his younger siblings were still at<br />
school. We cared for his parents and during this time, we were given another child and her name was Laksmi.<br />
Later, my husband got a job as a caretaker at a primary school which was 10 km from our house. We had no form<br />
of transport whatsoever, so we had to move closer to the school when Niluh was in grade 3, and Laksmi was 8<br />
months. At that time the wages my husband received was US$ 2 per month which was paid every two months. He<br />
was willing to accept this salary because it meant that later there was a possibility of becoming a civil servant.<br />
(Note: this is the hope of most people here. Even though wages are low as a civil servant, it means that there is job<br />
security.)<br />
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SUBUD VOICE PAGE 17 MAY <strong>2011</strong>