I am frozen for a moment to see the most splendid love the little girl shows to her mom while they are waiting the lady who bought their octopus give them the money. With a heartfelt smile, she wipes the sweat on her mom’s tired face with her hand, I see the true love
The rain just stopped a few minutes ago leaving the cloudy sky up there, it came down from the dark sky since the morning. It has been a week rain and storm hit the island and the sea around there, but today the heavy rain is a sign for the storm to fade away and stop agitating the sea. An hour later the calm blue sea start to show it beauty under the splendid golden sunset that draw the sky with colorful scenery. On the North East the rainbow has shown itself to give tremendous love to whoever looking at it, it is a perfect evening to take my old camera and try to find something to freeze. Waiting the sunset is always a luxury, while nothing I can do for the last 2 weeks. The construction progress of my Humanitarian Organization has to stop for a while since none of the ware material coming in to fulfill the order of mine. The weather has been too bad lately to ship the material from the main land across the sea to this small island, North Pagai.
Scrutinizing the surface of the blue sea with little wave coming to the shore over and over, my imagination flow wilder, the wave transform into a horse, and I am riding it. Little smile on my face realizing that this imagination is something ridicules because taking a canoe and paddling on it is nothing different and always can be done at any time I want. Nothing has been frozen by my camera, I have not found any interesting objects to shoot when I saw a small canoe with a little girl and her mom on it, and they are floating closer smoothly.
Within 2 hours the sun will completely set down into the horizon, when the people of the island come home after whole day sweating themselves on the sea or farming land to earn for the day and giving the new hope for their families. I am looking around while enjoying the fresh air, taking deep breath and blowing out slowly. It is little surprise to me when I see the little girl with her mom, because I saw them 3 days ago in the light rainy midday fishing little far from the others do. I saw them when I went for canoeing while the storm was still there with little chance to escape from it. There were really strong currents passing through the Pagai strait, I had to paddling up close the isolated small island with more mangrove grow along the side. I saw them and came closer for little conversation, and to find out what they actually were doing this far. They were fishing for selling the fishes at the afternoon by coming through door to door. At least that was what I heard from them when I checked their canoe with some fishes in the basket. The old women with her daughter fight the current and storm for her family, I knew that was too far for her to go. Their village is Muara Taikako, about 2 hours paddling from my office Nemnemleleu.
They come out from the small wooden canoe, with the same bucket I saw 3 days ago. I don’t see the fish, but 3 giant Octopuses, most probably the species of Octopus Vulgaris, that are about 2.5 kg each. I take the photograph without looking at the bucket, I Set auto focus on my 18-55 mm lens. It is really big with long tentacle, one of them still alive, no doubt that they were caught about 2 or 3 hours earlier.
Starting from the small jetty where they tie the canoe they shout out “Lauek…lauek…”. In the local language which means fishes or something similar. They keep walking passing by me, and I give a regard and smile to them. I have had some of their photograph since they were approaching the jetty where I stand. I follow them from the distance to see and feel what they are about to do. I knew it wasn’t easy to catch that big of octopus. I am not sure where they get it. There is a small island about 4 miles (6.44 km) away from this jetty but seem to be not possible to go there in these weather, it is too dangerous to cross with small canoe to that small island. The traditional way of getting octopus is by lashing it with a thumb size wooden stick while they are swimming on the surface, but it must be at the shallow part of that small island, but sometime it can be caught when the octopus in the reef hole. I went there once, about 2 months ago by motor boat.
The little girl and her mom are walking along the concrete road, which is the only one road on this island to connect villages to the sea port as the central point of the island. The little girl and her mother walking while they are sometimes shouting a world “Lauek…..Lauek”, they shout it loudly. The little girl is wearing the same blue and white shirt as I saw her 3 days ago, and her slippers is thinner at the heel part. I am following them from about 5 meters behind, I can hear their conversations, but most of them I cannot understand. “Ina…tatoi li simaruei kinei get lek?(Mom…will we go home earlier today?)” the little girl asking her mother. With a smile in the face her mother answers to her little girl. “Bulat nia” (yes sure we will). They are tough women, they walk together side by side holding the bucket under the evening rainbow.
A woman of my neighbor calls them to buy the octopus. I see the smile at the little girl’s face. They walk up to the house of the women who called them and show their bucket. The buyer. I am thankful that they could make some money from their hard work. Little girl’s mom looks so happy when the women finally take away one of the octopus after bargaining the price, it cost IDR 25,000 ($1.7 USD). That is really cheap one. But at least it gives the new hope for both of them and their family at home. It makes one step closer of her little girl dream to become true.
I am frozen for a moment to see the most splendid love the little girl shows to her mom while they are waiting the lady who bought their octopus give them the money. With a heartfelt smile, she wipes the sweat on her mom’s tired face with her hand, I see the true love. My mind is flowing to another world, where mothers are watching their little girls taking candies or fancy doll from the shelf of supermarket as the form of love. Some of them are sitting in a fancy restaurant to express their love to each other. But, here they spend their working hours to help and support each other. I miss the moment, but her little hand is landed on her mom’s shoulder and talking each other so intents. I take a deep breath and trying to freeze the moment as fast as I can.
They are ready to walk to the next door offering the octopus. But, those people don’t buy it. They keep smile and walk along the road under the beautiful rainbow, as if God create the rainbow only for both of them. I pray for them to be able to sell all the remaining octopuses within one hour. I could not imagine that they have to paddling back home up stream for 1.5 hour in the dark, since it is 17.30 in the evening. Muara Taikako is not really close from Nemnemleleu, beside they must sail through the estuary and would spend another 15 minute to village.
Finally, I came back to where their small canoe was tied, and wait for them, I just want to ensure they could sell all of their octopus. The rain had fallen at the time I saw them return home with empty bucket. I was so happy to see it, but I worried since the dark had shown his mighty shadow to the earth. I prayed for their safety trip home.
I saw them again 2 days later, on their way back form the market with empty bucket at the stern of their canoe
They share a very simple way of love, but elegance. She was about 10 years old, but she knows what she must do to help her mother since her father long gone, taken by Tsunami in 2010. She has another 2 younger sister and brother at home. I knew all about her from the lady who bought their octopus a day later.
I still remember how simple the love they show me one upon a time in 2011, when I was still working for CDRM CDS as a construction supervisor and support service coordinator on the island.
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