THE ART OF WAITING

Santirta Martendano, plasamsn.com

“I want to be a painter,” says Edo enthusiastically.

Edo, who was born into a poor farming family in Bengkulu, Southwest Sumatra, loves drawing. His imagination soars. Lines, some straight, some curved, all drawn smoothly, form the outlines of his favorite animals: dinosaurs and lions.

When Edo was 5 years old, his parents found a lump on his left arm. They decided to have it removed and the doctors discovered it was a sarcoma (malignant tumor). Now 9 years old, Edo continues to suffer from rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of cancer which occurs mostly in children, attacking soft tissues such as muscle and cartilage.

Currently, Edo is mustering all of the hope he can to combat his now stadium-four malady, which has spread to his brain, with regular chemotherapy at the Dharmais Cancer Hospital.

Edo is awaiting the outcome of his treatment in “Rumah Kita-1”, a shelter run by Yayasan Kasih Anak Indonesia (YKAKI) to house children from underprivileged families while they are undergoing treatment for cancer.

Like Edo, many of the children at Rumah Kita-1 have been absent from school for quite some time. They fill their time will learning and playing during their long periods of treatment and waiting and hoping for a better prognosis. The activities also help them keep up with their classmates back home for when they eventually return to school.

Mrs. Pinta, head of YKAKI, believes that keeping the children’s spirit alive is important, because physical illness cannot be healed solely with medicines alone; joy and happiness are essential for a full recovery.

“It helps them prepare to face the worst,” Mrs. Pinta says.

CAPTIONS

Caption 1: Edo concentrates on drawing before bedtime in his room at the Rumah Kita-1 shelter.

Caption 2: Edo’s mother and a nurse offer support and encouragement to Edo before a round of chemotherapy, the one thing he hates the most, at Dharmais Cancer Hospital, in Jakarta.

Caption 3: Edo and friends using a laptop to learn about Indonesian literature.

Caption 4: Edo with his friend, a blood cancer patient, in the Dharmais Cancer Hospital’s Hall of Lament, where the parents of cancer sufferers can go to let down their guard and express their pain.

Caption 5: A pile of dolls belonging to child cancer patients wait for their young owners in the corner of a room.