Scattered Journey

By Henri Charles Schmid

This is not just a fascinating story about Jenny; Jenny is the story.

At the start of World War II, Jenny’s paradisiacal family life in the former Dutch East Indies is instantly shattered. After having been knocked down in every way, she bravely fights back, turning inhumane adversity into victory out of pure love and dedication to her children. Tenaciously, she clings to and fulfills the promise she makes to the husband who is harshly ripped from her life—her husband, confidant, friend, and the love of her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: 3Skatter Press
• Release date: Sep 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502224866

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Henri Charles Schmid

Scattered Journey

Copyright © 2014, Henri Charles Schmid

3Skatter Press

All rights reserved. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Cover photo copyright © 2014, 3Skatter Publishing

Cover design, photography, and sketches used by permission by 3Skatter Publishing.

For Hedy, born in Tjihapit, 27 December 1942.

She is the real, live Christmas present to all who were incarcerated in the Japanese Tjihapit Concentration Camp, Java, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

WRITER’S NOTE

Many of the dialogues are fictional, based on real events that have taken place. The story is set around the five principal characters, who are real people, including many others encountered on this scattered journey.

INTRODUCTION

This is not just a personal story about Jenny; Jenny is the story. This unassuming five-foot-five giant’s journey started off with a tough life as a youth—a scattered story about acts of courage in the face of misfortune. Then, in her late teens, she met the love of her life and best friend, things changed dramatically for the better. Jenny officially married Emile in one of the most beautiful and idyllic places in the world. Just when things could not have shown more promise for a happy family life, Jenny’s world changed from heaven on earth to utter hell in a matter of days. Her natural female instincts enabled her to instantly respond, changing from a happy wife to that of a protective lioness. Jenny was additionally motivated by her husband’s admonition: Jen, stay strong, take care of our children. Her unconditional love, selfless devotion, tenacity, and commitment were fueled by the strong character she never realized she was.

Jenny showed that a woman who is undeservedly wounded and scarred by barbaric treatment can change her to a woman ready to fight for survival. When circumstances continued to place a multitude of challenges in her path, Jenny was able to rely on skills she had taught herself early in life, as well as in the presence of her children for whom she sacrificed most of her own life. The real life events in this book present a reference to many other women whose lives are unnecessarily interrupted. Readers will find similarities in otherwise different times, circumstances, and places, perhaps recognizing a moral boost for themselves to keep hoping for a positive solution, find encouragement not to give up, and continue the struggle for survival.

LIVING IN PARADISE

The Belt of Emerald, as it’s often referred to, is the well-known and widely acclaimed wonder the former Dutch East Indies. It is a collection of some seventeen thousand tropical islands connecting the Far East continent to Australia, and is now known as Indonesia. On the island of Java, a young family had settled in the mountains where man-made tea plantations blended into the natural landscape of green rolling hills and high lush mountains. There was no need to disturb the natural beauty with mundane changes, nor was there a desire to even consider such intrusions. A fascinating variety of impressive trees, shrubbery, and colorful flowers were already scattered about the luscious landscape.

Emile and Jenny, a young, recently married couple, ventured into the area and settled in. Their meeting had been pure coincidence. Emile, a descendant of Swiss travelers who had settled into these idyllic surroundings generations ago, and Jenny, his typical Dutch, blond and blue-eyed wife from The Netherlands, had been introduced by friends in Holland. This close-knit group, made up of young people, mostly high school friends, met regularly as part of social and athletic activities in a countryside restaurant, next to a field hockey facility in Bloemendaal, just outside of Haarlem. Emile and Jenny became close friends, fell in love, and decided to get married. He finished high school and entered college immediately.

After graduating from college with a degree in civil engineering, he worked for a period of four years for the Nederlandsche Heide Maatschappij in southern Holland on a variety of projects. Emile was given an extremely positive resume for high competence. With that in hand, he became even more persistent in his quest for creating an opportunity to move back to Java, knowing that, when possible, he would instantly return to his country of birth. Emile was presented with that opportunity for employment near the city of Bandung. High priority was given to return to a familiar part of the luscious mountains and climate of Java, close to where he was born. To Emile it represented a perfect place for growing tea and other forms of tropical farming, as well as fabulous living conditions for families.

Switzerland was the ancestral country of Emile’s paternal family. Three brothers left the small town of Sarnen, near Luzern, in the 1790s for Holland. Emile’s great grandfather, Josephus Franciscus Aloysius, moved to the Dutch East Indies in the 1850s and settled in the city of Surabaja, Java. Since that time, Emile’s ancestors integrated with the Dutch and indigenous people in that district.

Emile’s father, Henri Casper, was born in Surabaja, Java, in 1881 and married Emile’s mother Dirkje in late December 1908 in the city of Leiden, Holland. Emile was born in January 1910 in Surabaja. When Henri Casper unexpectedly died in early 1917 in Amboina on the island of Ambon, Dirkje, Emile and his six year younger brother Dirk moved back to Haarlem, Holland. After graduating from the Christlelijke Lyceum High School in Haarlem, Emile attended college in Holland. It was not unusual that high school graduates attended college in Holland since the Dutch East Indies were considered Dutch territory and not too many universities were available in that part of the world.

One day, Emile received an offer to work for a reputable company on Java in the Dutch East Indies. He immediately shared the offer with his future wife Jenny who responded exuberantly. Backed by the complete support of his future wife, he did not waste any time in accepting the offer and left for the Dutch East Indies at some time in 1936. Jenny followed him later that year after she unofficially married him in a hand-glove proxy ceremony available for citizens who resided in different countries. They officially married in Tasikmalaja, Java, in early January 1937. Immediately after, Emile started working for the culture enterprise company, Galoenggoeng, in Tasikmalaja, as the personal assistant of the administrator, Mr. W. Latenstein. In 1938, Emile was transferred to a tea plantation not too far from Tasikmalaja, called the Asam Tea Company Gedeh, also operated by the same company. In late 1938, their first child, Henri Charles, was born in the Sukabumi hospital. Emile’s son was named after his grandfather and great grandfather, Henri Casper.

Dutch citizens known as Belandas, government officials, and other foreign nationals of European descent, formed a close-knit community with the indigenous people. This form of solidarity came about after a period of many years of colonization when new, offshore additions arrived, were warmly welcomed, and subsequently introduced to one another. Furthermore, the new arrivals also got acquainted with numerous other Belandas at places of work. Social life centered on meeting together regularly at parties, birthdays, and other informal and formal gatherings. Making trips to far-off vacation resorts was not necessary. The area where they lived offered most, if not all, accommodations and places of interest to suffice the need of recreational places. The community created strong relationships with the local natives through work, local customs, traditional, and annual festivities. Delicious local traditional rice-based dishes prepared by native chefs became an instant success among the Dutch. Thus replacing the European foods with the Indonesian menus created no problem. Neither did adopting the more relaxed and easygoing way of life enjoyed by the local population. Vast varieties of year-round locally grown foods and fresh vegetables were also very popular, and local art and handcrafted merchandise were readily available. Furniture, made of an ample supply of beautiful local wood, became favored items. Common laborers and craftsmen did not find it difficult to fill handcrafted custom orders at no extra cost.

Jenny became very popular among the locals for her happy attitude and genuine interest and respect for families, especially by caring for small children. She would often purchase clothing for the children and bring them toys shipped from Holland. Some of those toys were so foreign to locals that they left bemused local mothers in awkward situations. On those occasions, Jenny would patiently demonstrate how they should be properly used. Appreciation for her increased her popularity which soon spread among the locals. As a result Emile also enjoyed the popularity and respect shown to Jenny. He was often called to assist when problems arose among the native people, especially laborers on the tea plantation. Despite the fact he was not trained to do so, Emile helped resolve a great variety of situations, sometimes treating sick children and animals. Life was very good, pleasant, and peaceful. It became a well-oiled machine of synchronized affairs in true harmony with the natural beauty of local culture, customs, and traditions. For many years this melting pot of local people from the area and emigrated immigrants was considered to be living in paradise. The tea production industry supported and improved most of the living conditions.

Emile and Jenny enabled their family to function in tandem with local traditions and customs, discussing how to make it work in concert with their individual needs. After all, there were children to be raised as well. Getting their family to enjoy the local foods and rice-based dishes of Sundanese and Javanese menus required much effort. While at first, local food was only eaten when getting together with friends, it evolved into a more personal taste through purchases from local tokos shops) and street vendors. This became the desired way to enjoy available traditional food, though some more elaborate restaurants were also tried.

Jenny and Emile invited local people to their home to prepare food and cook with them on as many occasions as possible. That way they became experienced tasters in the local food customs and traditions. Both agreed that the sweeter flavors of Javanese food suited them best. At one of the socials they regularly attended, the food was prepared by Hassan, a family member of their grounds keeper, who happened to be an employee of the same company Emile worked for. He received compliments from many acquaintances, including both Jenny and Emile. Hassan was complimented many times for his skills and love of cooking. He always graciously thanked Emile in the Javanese language when he received a compliment. Jenny, responding to Hassan’s popularity, suggested to her husband that he should invite Hassan to come over and prepare a dinner at their home. As a result, Hassan was eventually hired as the family cook, and Emile was convinced that the quality of the food being served every night would be first-class.

Hassan was introduced to Kokkie who, coincidentally, knew Hassan well. Kokkie, Jenny’s personal assistant in running her household, welcomed the addition of Hassan enthusiastically. Because both of them were Javanese, they would work well together, including when their responsibilities needed cooperation from one another. However, that positive relationship did not extend to the interactions between Hassan and the Sundanese gardener Wawan. They were instead full of friction, sometimes even animosity. Despite the fact that they did not like each other at all, they were both employees at the home of Emile and Jenny and, as such, needed to learn to work together. Emile and both employees were aware of that. Emile talked to both of them separately. As a result, a commitment was made by both workers to keep their distance, not antagonize each other, and not cross paths unless necessary. Emile hoped that in the not too distant future, both men would fully cooperate with one another.

Emile’s love and trust for his workers was not the only indication of his appreciation for all people, or all life. He also loved many varieties of animals including many species of birds and insects. Apart from a cage with two chained monkeys, he kept a pretty large snake collection in boxes and bins at a far-distant spot in the back yard. There were times that Emile would create a special occasion to demonstrate an addition of a pet animal or bird to Jenny. Wawan was asked one day to bring in a particular snake Emile had added to his collection for just that purpose. Jenny’s dislike for snakes was well known to her husband, but Emile still attempted to get Jenny to like snakes through these harmless interactions.

Jenny instructed Kokkie to take the children to another room. The box was placed on the kitchen table and Wawan was handed a stick with a rounded, hook-like tip and asked to take the snake out of the box. Wawan slowly opened the box to make sure to not surprise and scare the snake. He gently handled the tool and procured a rather small snake. Yet despite all his gentle and careful action, the snake dropped on the floor. Instantly it went chasing after Jenny. What appeared to be a comical situation of dashing madly away from a slowly crawling snake turned into panic and chaos. Emile could not help but start laughing for just a moment while watching his wife run away from the snake, screaming for help, and trying emphatically to search for an opportunity to get on the table and safely away. Wawan tried his best to recapture the snake, yelling in his local language like the snake would hear and listen to his commands. When Emile realized that things would get out of control if continued, he immediately sobered his attitude. He was not really concerned because the serpent was not dangerous as far as he knew, but Jenny and Wawan did not want to find out if that was a correct assessment. In fact, needless to say, Jenny did not believe her husband for one moment.

At one point Wawan got a hold of the snake, his otherwise tender handling dumped and exchanged for a rough recapture. Emile just about went into instant shock when he noticed that the snake was perhaps tapped too harshly on the head. The hit resulted in the snake being groggy just long enough to allow Wawan to put the hook underneath it and place it back in the box. It was not the proper way to recapture the creature, but it worked.

Wawan wiped the sweat off his forehead and expected a reprimand or worse from Jenny for allowing the snake to escape, as well as from Emile for handling it too harshly, but everything went quiet instead. Jenny had managed to get onto the table. She appeared deeply irritated and still in shock when she joined the silence. All three of them looked at each other and then suddenly joined in a chorus of loud laughter. Emile helped his wife off the table and took her into his arms. After all was said and done, they all thought this whole spectacle was hilarious—but certainly not to be repeated any time soon. Unfortunately, the whole affair resulted in Jenny hating snakes even more.

Apart from appreciating the incredibly beautiful natural scenery in this country of mountains, deep valleys, colorful flowers, and rushing rivers surrounded by green trees and luscious shrubs, Emile purchased most of his goods from merchants at the local passar, or open markets, thus supporting local trade. That included varieties of birds he fancied. He also accumulated samples of the many indigenous and free bird species. Emile worked hard to have his wife and children join him in his admiration for birds. He built a large bird sanctuary, where he kept small birds of many varieties and bright colors. On his days off he made sure that he would spend some quality time with them. Emile could spend hours inside the sanctuary, mesmerized by how fortunate he was to be sharing life with his feathered friends.

Another child was born in the Sukabumi hospital—a daughter, Marianne Louise. Jenny named her after a close friend and the wife of Emile’s manager back in Holland. On occasion, Emile brought his children with him inside the bird sanctuary to show them the energetic and happy creatures. It was another attempt to, in some way, expect the whole family to join him in his love and appreciation of nature.

Jenny, on the other hand, loved nature just as much, but in her own way. She was not amused by birds in captivity. On occasion she just opened the door to the sanctuary and allowed the birds to go free. Emile, not happy with it, would be stunned and confused by his wife’s behavior. He had some serious conversations with Jenny to convince her to let her husband get other birds to replace the lost ones. As a matter of fact, she bought a couple of red-colored birds for him at the Tandjoer market to show her change of heart. The gesture was much appreciated by Emile and restored his confidence that his entire collection would be safe in the future.

Not restricted to loving birds, Emile could not get enough of the many colorful and vast varieties of butterflies around him. He invited Jenny on several occasions to join him in the enormous backyard with nets to catch them. His hope was that one day he would be able to catch his most desired prize—a Monarch butterfly. So far, he had no such luck. Emile preserved the caught butterflies through the delicate process of pinning, mounting, and adding them to a large display on one of his office walls. In a short period of time he collected a fair amount of colorful butterflies and moth specimens of all sizes. This way he was able to enjoy his enormous love for them even while working. Many times he invited Jenny and his two children to come in to his office. He would then have them listen to his devoted speeches supporting butterflies, moths, and all kinds of insects. At times when he would withdraw to his office, you could see him sit relaxed in a chair and stare in sheer awe, accompanied with a smile, mesmerized at his collection. On one of those butterfly hunting trips, Jenny accompanied her husband even though she had no inclination of catching them. As a matter of fact, she enjoyed seeing them around in their natural habitat much more. She lacked butterfly catching skills, including the delicate way of handling the big net on a stick. One time, by sheer coincidence, she happened to catch Emile’s coveted Monarch butterfly. Emile expressed his immense happiness by holding his wife close to him in a tender embrace, but making sure that Jenny’s net was kept safely at a distance so the prized catch could not escape or be damaged. These occasions showed how much the two loved each other.

Eggs were an important part of the menu and were among the chicken dishes Hassan prepared. After some discussion, it was decided to buy egg-laying chickens. Kokkie touched base with her family and a source to buy chickens was introduced. It was necessary that only egg-laying chickens were purchased since neither Emile nor Jenny had any knowledge about chickens—other than eating them. One condition was agreed to: no chicken coop with locked-up chickens. At Jenny’s insistence they were to roam freely around the backyard and underneath the house where they stayed at night in a makeshift chicken coop. It appeared to be a fabulous compromise. A dozen chickens arrived and were let go in the backyard. Jenny made it her chore to collect the eggs. She noticed that most of them were laid underneath the house. That made her job easier. Wawan collected the eggs that he found at other spots in the backyard.

One day Jenny mentioned to Emile, I don’t know what’s wrong with the chickens. Could you check out why they are not laying many eggs anymore?

Emile’s face contorted in surprise. That’s very strange, but I will check it out.

In the meantime Jenny asked Kokkie, Hassan, Wawan to buy additional eggs in town since the usual crop at home had diminished. They offered to fulfill that responsibility. Wawan became the most enthusiastic egg salesman. After a while, Jenny became a bit suspicious about that. Sure enough, it turned out that Wawan collected the eggs from Jenny’s chickens and sold them back to her. First he only took a few from the backyard, but soon he added the cache with ones from underneath the house. Jenny quickly realized why she did not get the usual amount of eggs anymore. She informed Emile and they both started laughing. Instead of getting mad, they responded by showing their true character. They informed Wawan that Jenny had discovered him walking underneath the house and hiding something in a cloth. It was the same cloth he used to carry the eggs that he sold to Jenny later that day. They explained that they knew he was the cause of fewer eggs, not the chickens. Wawan was instructed to stop his egg-stealing action immediately. Hassan and Kokkie knew all along who the rascal was. Out of fear of Wawan’s disapproval, they had kept quiet.

At one point Emile got into a conversation with Hassan and asked him why he was working so many extra hours. He answered that his wife looked after the home cooking business so that they could save up enough money to send his two sons to school. They wanted them to attend a church-sponsored school with the best-qualified teachers and staff. Emile and Jenny got in touch with the principal and, after some discussion, left for Hassan’s home and offered to pay for both boys’ education. Hassan and his wife responded with complete surprise and astonishment. They looked at each other with spontaneous tears of joy and thankfulness. Hassan gratefully accepted on behalf of both. His wife still could not comprehend what had just happened and therefore was not able to bring out a word. Instead, she bowed her head several times in a humble expression of gratitude, and then she left for the kitchen and came back with some Indonesian treats she had made to sell the next day. Jenny accepted the gesture with grace, and thanked her and with a happy face, showing the treats to Emile.

Every time Jenny and Emile made the trip to Bandoeng to do some shopping, they would invite Kokkie to accompany them. Kokkie loved that, since she was able to show friends in town who her employers were, at the same time allowing Emile and Jenny to be recognized in town as good citizens by showing everybody that she was treated as an equal. Equality with the local population was completely normal as far as Emile and Jenny were concerned. Discrimination was not tolerated in their family, because they knew there was no difference between them and other human beings. It was their desire that the local population, as well as their friends, would be aware of that. When not, Emile and Jenny made it clear in a pleasant and non-confrontational way that appreciating the local people by treating them as equals was standard in their family. They were not just living in this beautiful country, they felt like citizens of the land and were determined that the locals felt the same about them. Emile was recognized as someone who respected local traditions and customs as well as the native people themselves.

Emile met regularly with local leaders and officials. One such native leader was Dr. Suria Nata Atmadja. He and Emile developed a close relationship and a very solid friendship. Everybody knew that these two men admired and respected each other a lot. One day when Emile came home, Jenny asked, By the way, have you met Dr. Suria Nata lately?

A broad grin appeared on Emile’s face. Yes, Jen, the other day we had lunch together with a group of government officials and business people. At one point he took me aside and informed me that he enjoyed working together with the business staff and government leaders. You know, we might have come from different ships, but, obviously, we are now in the same boat, especially in regards to loving and caring for each other’s interests and the country.

Emile spoke again after some quiet moments. We are all benefiting from working together. But we have to realize that there will always be some among the population who do not appreciate foreigners at all. This way we might be able to improve that.

The respect for Emile, Jenny, and other Belandas, or the Dutch, became the accepted and appreciated norm in interactions with each other and cultivated increased mutual respect in all relationships with the local people. One night Emile came home from work and was moved as always with how happy they all were when he entered the home. This night was no different. However, the glow