Sen-ga

Born in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Drafted year: 1945, 15y/o, for 2 months

I didn’t have any specific disease

but my vagina was itchy and occasionally bled.

I did not get any medical treatment

because there was no doctor.

My parents were farmers. The three sibling with my older and younger brother, we were happy.

When I was 15, Japanese soldiers came and asked my parents to call me out. Five Japanese soldiers came, and I could not understand what they were saying.

I was forcibly taken away and it was scarier because I did not know where I was being taken to.

I was taken to the jungle and locked in a Barak (a house made of bamboo, sometimes refers to a “comfort station” in Indonesia).

Two soldiers came every day. When they did it to me, I felt so lost. I felt I was losing my soul, and I could not remember anything.

I didn’t try to remember who and how many of them did it to me a day. I didn’t have any specific disease but my vagina was itchy and occasionally bled. I did not get any medical treatment because there was no doctor.

There were 4 more women besides me in the barak, and the Japanese soldiers controlled and monitored us.

I was raped for 2 months even without condoms, but luckily, I never got pregnant. When the Japanese military left after the defeat, they never gave me any money or goods.

When I came home, my father asked me what happened, and I told him I just cooked for the Japanese soldiers. Even after the marriage, I told my husband the same.

* There is an old sewing machine at the entrance to the house. She makes her own clothes and even bed curtains.