RETURN TO THE MOTHERLAND

Photographer Armando Ello and reporter Griselda Molemans touched down in Jakarta for the final interviews for the book production 'Black skin, Orange heart' which is due in May this year. As usual, the capital city of Jakarta had an overwhelming effect on them. The city's 12 million inhabitants make for a non-stop flow of traffic, hustle and bustle. In a quiet corner of the Menteng Park however, the statue of a young Barack Obama was paid a visit on the first day of the trip. 'Barry' used to live in the Menteng area with his mother Ann at the age of 10 years. Most Jakartans are proud of the achievements of this young 'Betawi' who became the 44th president of the United States, although protesters last week threatened to pull the statue down.

The first interviews with descendants of African soldiers who served in the Dutch army in the Netherlands Indies took place at the Church of St. Joseph on the Matraman Lane where the Dutch charity organization HALIN hands out small financial support to former Dutch citizens. Every month, about 150 elder people of Dutch-Indonesian, Moluccan and Indo-African descent (who used to be Dutch citizens, but opted for Indonesian citizenship in 1949) visit the HALIN support day in Jakarta. Among them were Adriana Adeboi, a descendant of African soldier Adeboi and Benny de Bakker, a great-grandson of soldier Van Steenbergen. Their live's stories testify of the hardship that many former Dutch citizens encountered after choosing to stay in the new republic of Indonesia.