When My Great Uncle Had To Step Up and Take Care of the Land and His Family 💪

Besides going back to my roots and recharging, I did something I didn't think I would be doing. But being there and sitting down with my parents and great uncle made me realize, that it was about time to ask about my family's history.

The "old" pier and the old water lock that still works.

On my last visit to Laarwijk it was for the very first time I asked my great uncle some questions about our family's (hi)story, because now that I'm getting older and his generation is thinning out, I want to remember and preserve as much of them as I can. This was one of those moments, that I wished I had paid more attention, when my grandparents were trying to teach us Javanese (the tongue of our immigrant ancestors).

The cultivated banana/plantain on our land.

I asked him how long has the plot of land been in the hands of the family. Was it in the family before his father (embah buyut in Javanese) or was embah buyut the first to settle or was he born in Suriname? My great uncle couldn't give me a straight answer or rather I felt a little bit of a divide between generations or a language barrier.

Some citrus trees in between.

I mostly grew up speaking Dutch and learning English through television, while he is fluent in Javanese, Sranan (our lingua franca) and probably Sarnami (the evolved version of Hindi our Indian brethren brought with them). In spite of that, I did get a story out of it. Though he couldn't clearly tell me when our family settled on Laarwijk, my great uncle told me a bit of his own story.

Probable view from the boat my great uncle had when he returned home from the city.

It turned out that my great uncle had found a job in the city, when he was old enough to work, until one day my great grandfather (embah buyut) had send out a message to him to return home as soon as possible. After my great uncle had arrived embah buyut had told him, that he was sick and that he felt that he didn't have long. He had felt it in his body.

So embah buyut had asked my great uncle to take over the land, because (some of his) sisters (my great aunts) were still unwed and they also needed someone to look after them. My great uncle had agreed and not long after my embah buyut had died at a fairly young age (he was in his forties or fifties). Since then, my great uncle looked after and maintained the grounds to the best of his abilities, which is why we can still enjoy the fruits of his labor.

And while I would still like to know more about our family and when we settled on the planation, I am grateful that I got to hear this part of my great uncle's life. There's more to unravel and I believe that I can find some data in the archives, if ever I find the time to dive in. How about you? Any family (hi)story you would like to share? Share it in the comments below 🤓.