TRY TO BRING OUT THE STRONG SIDE IN YOURSELF AND CONNECT WITH ONE ANOTHER THROUGH THAT SHARED STRENGTH
My father was 19 when he arrived on the Kota Inten II on 21 June 1951. By then he had already completed HBS in the Dutch East Indies, and shortly after arriving he was presented with his diploma in the Netherlands. That was his good fortune. It allowed him to go on building his career. As a result, my parents were among the first Moluccans to buy their own home, in 1973. That was very special at the time.
Father was very active in the RMS struggle. As his children, we had to try to be successful in society. But we were never allowed to lose sight of the RMS ideal. That was what he had been taught by his father, and now he passed it on to us. Grandfather Anton Ririassa came from the village of Oma on the island of Haruku. I only knew him as a child.
Grandfather Job Lewerissa is my mother's father. I often talked with him and learned a great deal. He taught us that whatever you go through or encounter in life is not a burden but baggage. It's precisely that baggage that shapes you. It makes you stronger, so you can stand in your own strength. That's why I have this suitcase with me. It's his suitcase, his baggage, which he brought with him from the Indies to the Netherlands. It symbolises not only the arrival, but certainly also the future.
Grandfather Job was very enterprising, a trader. His shed in Krimpen was full of sacks of rice for sale. Back then, rice wasn't available on every street corner. He also traded fireworks every year. Lorries full of them were delivered to his house. I inherited that entrepreneurial mentality from him.
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Person portrayed
Iwan Ririassa
(1970, Krimpen aan de IJssel)
Owner of Tattoo Shop
All 4 U Tattoo - Photographer Ed Leatemia
