She was a smart and hard-working woman who still has agile movements until now. Her husband died in the Merapi disaster because he chose to stay at home to guard his land. She referred to herself as “Mbah”, the Javanese form of “grandma”.
“Mbah is a sugar trader. Almost every day, my late husband went to search coconut water for sugar and also wood from the forest to heat our stove. I sometimes help my husband to chop wood. That’s how we work, Nduk (calling for younger women in Javanese). First, the coconut water is filtered, then added with sugar so that it can multiply—if you add a lot of sugar, the benefits are certainly more”.
I smiled, “Why did you add sugar with sugar, Mbah? Isn’t it already sweet?”
She laughed sweetly—showing her teeth that were almost all dated, “Of course it’s not to add the sweetness but to add the amount of sugar that’ll be produced, Nduk. We live by selling sugar, so why don’t we look for ways to make a lot of profit? I also have to pay a to the Ojeg (motorbike rent) in the market and pay for food to feed me, my husband, and my children”.
She then added with a hand on her chest, “Mbah is already old, but I love to work. My children are all grown up so they can find their own money. Right now, the only thing that makes me sad is when I remember my late husband. We were always together—even we always work together. He was a very calm and understanding person, He listens to me, and I also do what he says if I think that it’s the right thing to do. We talk to each other every day, when I’m alone, Mbah keeps on remembering him. It makes me sad. So when that happens, I’ll walk around the village to search for friends to chat. If there is someone else to talk to, I don’t feel sad anymore”.
I smiled and touched her strong, tough, and upright back which she told me that it often feels sore nowadays. She is smart—many of them are smart people. They learn to live by self-study, and accustomed to maintaining life and happiness with hard work. They don’t take things for granted, they need to share, work, and get a land that will become their home.
Do you know what Mbah want me to share? The fact that in her heart, there is a magnificent temple and the temple was built from the ashes of Merapi.