I found my family roots ........ through Ninik, The Stranger Who Knows Me So Well

Weleri, Indonesia
The Sumari Family

My unexpected meeting with Ninik turned out to be very precious. She introduced me to Rina, a young mother who married my distant cousin Rofa. They have 2 small children, Rena a 2-yr old girl, and Mulan a 7-yr old girl who is in elementary school. They live right across the alley from where Ninik lives. Rina and Rofa rent a room in this already small 3 bedroom home ....also with dirt floor. Three families live in one small home. They all share one kitchen, which looks more like a fire camp site inside a house. Rina, a beautiful young woman, who managed to finish high school, decided to elope and marry Rofa who only attended elementary school.

In a country where arranged marriage is still commonly practiced, this young woman certainly has a huge courage to make this "unblessed" decision. Since then, Rofa has been struggling to feed his family. With no job, he accepted the position of being the neighborhood contact person for a chance of serving the community in government relation for a small fee. A fee so small, he can barely feed his family of four. According to Rina, they had one day let the family go hungry for a full day because there is no food.

During a visit with the family, Rofa summoned some of his brothers to come to his house because there are "important guests" visiting him..... Two brothers who are as good looking as Rofa arrived on a motorcycle and they introduced themselves to me, my husband Mitch, and my brother in-law Jati. After talking to everybody, I offered Rina a paid job training and recreation at our house in Semarang for a week. I wanted so much for Rina to see outside the "window of her life"...... perhaps she can be inspired to inspire her children. Children in this town have no dreams, for they don't have any idea or never see things that can inspire them to dream about.