The holiday
When the month of fasting ends, the Eid holiday comes.
His friends, every one of them, are with their parents.
DEVAN was at his grandmother’s house.
“So that’s a little hard.”
When he was a child, there were days at home when even food was hard to come by.
His father had no work.
His parents separated.
His mother went to Malaysia to work.
His father started a family with someone else.
“I was disappointed.”
DEVAN was raised by his grandmother.
Working in Malaysia, his mother could now eat good food and buy the things she wanted.
Whenever he asked, she bought things for him.
Working abroad.
He learned what that meant by watching his mother.
A promise, a year late
There was a best friend he had spent his high school work placement with.
“Let’s go to Japan together.”
That was what they used to say.
But his parents would not allow it.
His friend went to Japan first.
He started working in Fukuoka.
A year went by.
Only after showing his parents that his friend was already working in Japan was he finally allowed to go.
When she learned he was going to Japan, his mother came home from Malaysia.
It was four months before he left.
Arriving in August
He arrived in Japan in August.
“It’s hot, same as Indonesia. But the heat is different.”
At first, he was scared.
He was scolded almost every day.
Told the same things again, he learned.
“Now, I’ve grown stronger inside.”
Has he ever regretted coming to Japan?
“Not even once.”
He had found, on his own, what being scolded meant.
“When Japanese people scold you, they’re watching over you. If you don’t get scolded, they’re not.”
“There are a lot of kind Japanese people.”
On his days off, he walks around looking at clothes, shoes and bags.
He has not yet been able to see his friend in Fukuoka here in Japan.
He hopes to see him next year.
Together, until the end
After Japan, he wants to go to Australia.
If that doesn’t work out, Poland.
He won’t be choosy about the work.
What matters to him is gaining new experience.
Has he not thought about going back to Indonesia?
“Going back would mean nothing. My family is all split up, you know. There’s no one there.”
We asked him what had helped him, all this time.
“Friends.”
At the end, when we asked what words he wanted to send, he began first with his friend in Fukuoka.
“Thank you for being there with me. My family was the way it was, but now I have a close friend who’s like family.”
And then, to his mother.
“Thank you for making me strong. Back when I wasn’t working yet, you gave me everything I wanted.”
He thanked his father, too.
We asked about his dream.
“I want to live with my wife until the end. Not like my parents. Marry someone I love, and be together until I die.”
The Eid holiday.
While his friends spent it with their parents, he was at his grandmother’s house.
Now, that same boy pictures a family that never ends.
Afterword
“There’s no one there.”
After saying that, DEVAN told us he wanted to build a family that could stay together until the end.
Saying there is no one to go back to, and wishing for a family that can stay together until the end.
The two sat side by side, within one and the same person.
In Fukuoka is the best friend who came to Japan a year before him. Even though they have yet to meet in Japan, he is a friend who is like family.
And in this country, too, there are people watching over him.
We, too, want to be one of the people watching over him.
