The Eternal Flower Will Never Come Home
- translated by Jimmy L Simanungkalit
.jpg)
“Flood…flood…flood…!” The screaming voice was clearly heard by Yunita Rahman. Yunita opened her door house to see what happened outside, even though she was still breast-feeding her baby, Edelwis Yuasa. She was shocked. Her house was inundated by 6 meter of water.That night, Yunita was completely unnoticed that Situ Gintung will be broken. In fact, the dam is only 500 meter away from her house. She slept very well and dreamt about having a very good time with her husband who works abroad.
Right before water of the dam spilled and washed away houses in Kampung Poncol and Cirendeu, Yunita could have time to do her Subuh (the dawn prayer for Muslims). “My maid was already awake too, and she took Baby on her lap,” she says in memorizing the moment.
After the prayer, Yunita took Baby, the way she calls her two month-old daughter Edelwis, from the maid. The affection between them was suddenly stopped by her neighbors who screamed in panic because their houses were suddenly inundated by water.
“When I opened the door and went out, my house was inundated by water.”
Just in seconds, water crashed houses around the dam, including Yunita’s house. People screamed and tried to rescue themselves. With a help from a neighbor, Yunita, with Edelwis in her arms, and her maid climbed to the roof of her house.
Electricity was suddenly black-out. In the dark, Yunita was panic and worry. She hanged on by holding a pole on the roof.
Stream of water was getting stronger and stronger. The walls of Yunita’s house were crumbling down. The three of them were thrown from the roof and drifted by water. “Edelwis was released from my arms and she disappeared,” Yunita says as she tried to hold her tears.
Water kept drifting furniture, ruins of buildings, tress, and people who could not save themselves. Yunita was wedged in ruins, and then she was drifted by water. “I can only prayer. Allahu-akbar (Allah Almighty). Then I felt that my body became very light,” she says.
Once again, Yunita was blocked by a trunk of coconut tree. She tried to climb up the trunk, as hard as she could. The strong stream of water then dragged her thin body. “I surrendered. I though that I will die soon here,” she says.Yunita was swayed by the stream for 30 minutes, and after that she was blocked by another trunk that made her flung away to a street. She was rescued by residents of Permata Permai Housing, located not very far from Lebak Bulus Bus Station, 5 kilometer away from her house.
After getting back her strength, Yunita went back to Kampung Cirendeu to look for Edelwis and her maid. The situation in coordination post for refugees of Situ Gintung in Muhammadiyah University Jakarta and Ahmad Dahlan Economic College was very messy. Those places were crowded by hundreds of people who wanted to find out about their families who had been lost.
Yunita then checked the bodies of victims, one by one. Her eyes were wet as she tried to find her beloved daughter. Meanwhile, cries of people were strongly heard among the death bodies.
This morning, they found a baby in Pesanggrahan River, but it was a boy,” a woman said to Yunita, and it made Yunita cry again. The smile of Edelwis, her immortal flower, keeps haunting her. (E1)
Photos: VHRmedia/Kurniawan Tri Yunanto
Photos: VHRmedia/Kurniawan Tri Yunanto
Comment Form
Latest
Violence against Political Prisoners (2)
Abepura prison, stands in the middle of Abepura city, is full of violence. This prison has three blocks, which each block is for political prisoners, child prisoners, and women prisoners.
Subscribe via RSS