Chapter 3: With the lepers at Pelantungan

We took the train to Bandung and I was agreeably surprised to find Java so lovely. I sat with Major Wilson (my English friend) who made the journey all the more interesting, as she explained the scenes as we went along. Mountains and valleys, rivers and fields of golden rice, great plantations of rubber trees and coconut palms – it was all breathtaking! A great crowd of officers from all over the Territory awaited us on the station, and it was such a thrill to see the dark-skinned comrades mingling with the Europeans in so natural a way . . . . The Congress was inspiring and to me more so than to many, because the Colonel, of course, spoke in English.

I was called to the Commissioner’s office after the Congress, and he showed me a map of the place to which I was to be appointed. It was Pelantungan, the Leper Colony! I was very apprehensive of such an appointment as I had no experience of nursing, but I dared not refuse and agreed to leave with another officer the following morning. It was a long, hot day’s journey by train, with its wooden seats; then a two hour car ride up into the mountain where the colony was. We were warmly welcomed by the manager and his wife and other officers. After a meal together, I was thankful to be shown my comfortable room with the message to be ready at 6 a.m. to go down to the colony.

I will not try to describe my feelings when entering the wards for the first time and meeting the patients. It was a dreadful sight and the smell was overpowering, yet those officers went about smiling and joking with their charges as if everything was normal, as it was, of course, for them. Through the European Section we went, and on to the Indonesian, the Adjutant introducing us to everyone. The sights and smells were almost too much for me, but I got through that first day, somehow. We returned to the nurses’ home for breakfast and lunch and, after a short siesta, returned to work until 5 p.m. when our duty was done and we could at last relax. The night sister took over for the rest of the night, together with a watchman from the neighbouring village. The next morning I was ready for work in the European section alongside a saintly Dutch officer. As I saw her so lovingly tending those dreadful sores with her bare hands, all shrinking and abhorrence for my task left me, and the Lord helped me to forget myself entirely. That short year of serving those unfortunate people was my inspiration for all the years ahead. During this time, the Ambonese doctor who came once a week to the colony was a great help to me. He could speak English as well as Malay, and went to some trouble to teach me the rudiments of nursing, which was of the greatest value in my later clinic work in Central Celebes (Sulawesi). Today the latest methods for curing leprosy are being practised in that colony with many being healed and sent on to rehabilitation centres set up by the Government. There they form their own communities, for some of their families do not welcome them back because of the mutilated limbs and faces. One patient, Siti Asisjah, was a young woman when I first went to the colony. Years later she was cured and sent home, but her family would not receive her, so she was allowed to end her days back at the colony, cheering the other patients.

The other side of my work at Pelantungan was the running of a proper Corps among the Indonesian section, including a songster brigade. This all helped me to improve my grasp of the Malay language. I would get the singers to read aloud the words of the song we were practising and so get the correct pronunciation. We had prayers together every morning in the hall, and the usual Sunday morning meeting, led by the manager, when my “songsters” would sing. There would also be voluntary testimonies, and I shall never forget the morning I heard a crippled young man declaring he was very thankful to be a leper, because at the colony he had found a Saviour! The Sergeant Major of the Corps was an elderly Chinese, intelligent and kind, who gave me daily Malay language sessions. Quite soon I was proficient enough to be able to minister to the patients on my own. I got to know their stories and their backgrounds, which greatly helped our contacts together. Also, many of the Eurasian young men played guitars or other instruments. As I had brought with me a “folding” organ, it was a great joy for us all to play and sing together – especially on a moonlit night in the lovely flower garden. There was also a club and library and on holidays all kinds of sports were arranged. What a sight it was to see the bare-footed boys playing football as excitedly as any group of healthy youngsters. One Bank Holiday we organised a Fair, which included coconut shies and climbing the greasy pole. Great fun!

It was not always easy for the Manager to keep a happy and contented spirit among the patients and it was the Sister’s task to help in this problem. Not all were interested in the Christian religion. Many were Muslims and some showed no interest in religion at all. In the Indonesian section every Sunday afternoon a little group of Salvationists would visit the wards and talk and sing to the patients, especially the new ones. Here my friend, Yap Ke Tjin, was invaluable. He would seek them out and explain the rules of the colony and the various amenities available, but above all, the comfort of believing in the Lord, Jesus Christ. He was not content until he had brought them to the meeting to share in our worship.

On Sunday afternoons happy meetings were held with the European and Eurasian patients, the band being composed entirely of patients. The following cutting from a Year Book of that time describes these very well.

“On a bandstand in a beautiful garden, shaded by waving palms, a band played. The Bandmaster, conducting with enthusiasm, was blind – both eyes destroyed by the savage disease which had also mutilated his face. The first cornet player, though tuneful could hardly balance on the stumps that served for feet, and, at the end of the performance, he jumped on the back of another bandsman to be carried back to his room. The drummer kept up an insistent rhythm suitable for the occasion, by holding the drumsticks between the stumps of two remaining fingers of one hand.”

In both sections of the colony were Home League Groups held for the women. They made beautifully embroidered or crocheted cloths, etc., which were fumigated and sold to the villages around, the money being given to the patients. They also received pocket money every month and were able to order delicacies from the town when the Manager went to buy his stores. One of the Sisters would accompany him, and that was the only chance of leaving the colony.

In the European Section there was an Ambonese mother and her three daughters. The girls all had leprosy and were much disfigured in the face, but their mother was free of infection. The husband had died in the colony, but Mrs Kandouw was given special permission by the Dutch Government to be with her three girls if she could be given a job, so she became cook for all the patients. She was a cheerful, dear woman, much respected by everybody. When eventually her daughters died, she asked to stay on, and was made Matron of the children’s home. Here, healthy children of patients were cared for outside the perimeter of the Colony. The parents were allowed to see their dear ones but never allowed to touch them.

From time to time, during my 30 years, I visited this colony and saw the children growing up, some of them becoming very useful members of society. One became Matron of another children’s home; two others became nurses.

Another patient who made a great impression upon me was a Dutch gentleman from Sumatra. He had been a Bank Manager and, because he could speak English, I often read to him and listened to his description of his wife and family – all in Holland. He was very depressed and had no hope of recovery, for he had left the disease unchecked for too long. His wife knew nothing about this, and he wrote to her as from an ordinary General hospital. He only lived a few months, but through Bible reading and talking about our Lord he came to believe. We promised to give him a real European funeral and send photos of it to his wife and children. This was done, and my friend who was going home to Holland on furlough visited his wife and was able to comfort her, and keep from her the fact that her husband had died a leper.