Today is Diny’s 105th birthday, which I hope she is celebrating with a lekker Rijsttafel in Heaven.
I am dearly fond of my Nico and Diny, my Opa and Oma. They were as most pictures reflect – joyful, loving, and hopeful. My Oma was born in July 1921, in Batavia (now Jakarta), while my Opa was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in January 1917.
I’m an immigrant’s daughter and have always grafted my mom’s experiences into a form of my identity.
The family came to America in 1959 through the Pastore-Walter Act, which resettled thousands of Dutch and Indo (Eurasian) refugee families, who were sponsored by recent immigrants; in turn, they sponsored 3-5 other newly arriving families. They later went through citizenship classes and became US Citizens.
I think about the sacrifice of my dear grandparents, who gave up the Known, to embrace the Unknown. The opportunities that America held always outshined all they forfeited by leaving the Netherlands.
How many of us have that faith, grit, strength, and resolve to move to a second continent – or in my grandparents’ case, a third – continent – and start afresh?
I live with gratitude for this. Happy birthday, dearest Diny!
About the Author: Caroline Mertens
A native of Southern California, Caroline Mertens moved to Colorado as a teen. She received her B.A. in English and Secondary Education from Colorado Christian University in Denver. Her grandmother's immigration tales of adventure, love, pain, and redemption provided ample amounts of hope, grace, and literary inspiration for her debut, In Those Other Lands.
After a season of work in the Netherlands, England, and France, Caroline returned to Colorado. Over the years, she has worked as a magazine editor, a professional writer, and an assistant to a Young Life director. However, Caroline's most fulfilling career is teaching high school English and Creative Writing. She strives to encourage teenagers to read what they love, and inspires her students to engage in purposeful creative writing. Caroline is passionate about traveling, cooking Indonesian food, and exploring Colorado with her family.
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