Dg Tija

Dg Tija

Born in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Drafted year: 1945, 16y/o estimates, for 5 months

because I could’ve been killed if my father found out.

According to the culture of Gowa,

a woman must die if she experiences such thing.

My father did not know this until he passed away.

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Around the time I was junior in the middle school, Japanese soldiers came to Ujung Pandang. First, they took my father, and ten days later, they took me away by four soldiers unbeknownst to my father.

There were about ten other women. I was usually raped by 3 soldiers a day. Sometimes two additional soldiers came.

I did not know what to do when they did that to me. I cried and told them I wanted to go home, but I couldn’t go and they continued to do it while I was crying. If I resisted, they tied my hands to a tree.

I started bleeding down there, but there was no treatment or medicine. Japanese soldiers gave me strange medicine after sex. I thought it was contraceptive.

There were women who died there. I felt listless when I heard a girl was sent back home after becoming sick, but she died a week later.

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5 months later, Japanese soldiers left. I didn’t tell my father what happened to me

because I could’ve been killed if my father found out. According to the culture of Gowa, a woman must die if she experiences such thing. My father did not know this until he passed away.

I can’t even breathe well, and my whole body hurts when I get up. If the pain is too great, I go to see a doctor to get treatment and medicine. Then, I feel better. I want to keep on taking medicine.

* The house is so old it’s falling to one side. She has several children, and she lives with her fifth daughter, Salla.