Barri
Born in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Drafted year: 1942, 15y/o, for 3 months
but I didn’t get any medical treatment.
I was finally told to go home after three months later
because I had venereal disease.
My parents were out to do farming, and I was home alone. Japanese soldiers came and yelled at me to come down from the second floor. I got scared and came down. I was taken to the military base. They were constructing Japanese buildings: men made bunkers, and women leveled the ground even every day.
I was working when a Japanese soldier with a long sword came to me. He touched my hand and brought me to a barak (a house made of bamboo, sometimes it means “comfort station”) and raped me.
I worked in the morning but I was repeatedly caught by two to four soldiers who did it to me in the afternoon. There were several rooms, and there were about ten other women.
가I sometimes slept there, but I usually came back to my sleeping quarter in the evening. Because of the constant rape, my vagina swelled up and it was so painful, but I didn’t get any medical treatment. I was finally told to go home after three months later because I had venereal disease.
I walked home without getting anything from them. My father got medicine from a doctor from his hometown for me. I only heard that the disease will affect men.
During my life, many men were interested in me, but I was personally scared. I was very scared because of Japanese soldiers.
* This Grandma continuously fiddles with Tasbih (Islamic rosary) during the interview. She spends many hours praying every day. There’s nothing else she can do. This is the only way to soothe her mind.