Wandering amid the ancestors, wondering about what’s been lost

SOBERING AND DISTURBING

Wandering amid the ancestors, wondering about what’s been lost

ISMAIL LAGARDIEN travels to Indonesia and finds the homeland of his imagination bears the same colonial scars of colonialism as the descendants of Dutch East India Company slaves back home

Walking along a muddy road on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, a little song emerged from the deepest recesses of my brain. I smiled.

“As ek moeg word vir die lewe in die stad, lok my die wandelpad; in die veld pluk ek ’n wandelstaf van die naaste doringboompie af, en sing my wandellied, en sing my wandellied.” (When I get tired of life in the city I take a walk... In the field I pick a walking stick from the nearest thorn tree and then I sing my walking song.)

I ducked under a tarpaulin to shelter from the monsoon rain and made a note of the recollection, startled by its sudden appearance here,  in a kampung (village) just north of Makassar. ..

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