Hidden Kartinis

As English doesn't differentiate between hidden (intransitive, Indonesian: tersembunyi) and hidden (transitive, Indonesian: disembunyikan), I have to use this single word for both senses.

I also have to separate the English version from Indonesian, as it is somewhat longer, with the inclusion of some additional information familiar only to Indonesian reader.

Who Kartini is can be traced from Kartini.

Notes:
1. Raden Ajeng was an old royal title for princess in Jepara.
2. In 1904, Kartini passed away at a very young age (25) due to pre-eclampsia, shortly after giving birth to her first and only child.
3. Kartini was named an Indonesian National Heroine. She was a pioneer in the area of education for girls and Indonesian women's rights for Indonesians.
4. Kartini is so respected in Indonesia that we commemorate Kartini Day every year on April 21. Here we call her Ibu Kartini (Mother Kartini).
 
Now I begin my article:
Ramadan month of 1442 H (2021 CE) is approching, and as a child (the way we refer to ourselves in regard to our place of origin) from Tanjungbalai Asahan, I, a non-Muslim, suddenly long for something that is only available during Ramadan in this village of mine, bubur pedas (spicy porridge)!  

Here, it's not this particular bubur pedas that I want to review, but a narrative related to Kartini Day which is also near now, the same day one of my two adoptive mothers passed away 3 year ago.

I do not need to write about the greatness of R.A. Kartini in this article, and here I only want to share about 5 other Kartinis from different eras as follows:

Hidden Figure. Source.

1. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, dan Mary Jackson
Starting from 1930s:

Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, dan Mary Jackson were three African-American Female Mathematicians who worked for NASA.

Their biography can be read from Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, a book written by Margot Lee Shetterly (also a double minority). Margot started writing this book since 2010 and published it in 2016.

In the same year, a biographical drama film with the same title was made, loosely based on the book.

Struggle and sacrifice of these three Kartinis took place from the 1930s through the 1960s when some viewed women as inferior to men.

I watched this move a few years ago and the most important thing that impressed me was that at that era, confronting so many discriminations, Katherine Johnson struggled hard and succeeded in eliminating at least the racial segregation in using coffee pots and batrooms at NASA!

These three Kartinis contributed largely to NASA's achievement to what it is today.

Thank you Mother Katherine Johnson, thank you Mother Dorothy Vaughan, and thank you Mother Mary Jackson!

Their Superiorities: Geniuses that even other NASA staffs, either male, white, or both, lacked of, and persistence in fighting for the equal rights of double-minorities.

Fumiko Minami. Screenshot source.

2. Fumiko Minami
Turning to 1955:
Automatic electric rice cooker we use for granted at home everyday was first invented this year by a company in Japan. Ever since, million units have been sold worldwide. Rice cooker as we know today are not so different from initial models.

Practical electric rice cooker was invented by Yoshitada Minami.

Behind the success of a man, there's a woman who support him.

Long and tiresome experiments were conducted by Yoshitada with the assistance of his beloved wife, Fumiko Minami (or more correctly, by Fumiko with the assistance of his husband): "Begin Japanology - Rice Cookers".

Fumiko conduted 20 tests everyday, including tests under freezeng snow, until finally she had to lose her own life, in order that all other people, including you and me today, do not have to bother cooking the delicious and fluffier rice that we eat every day.

Thank you Mother Fumiko!

Superiorities of Mother Fumiko: Love for mankind worldwide (with rice as staple food), and extraordinary tenacity not possesed even by any men!

Yayuk Ciayo. Screenshot source.

3. Yayuk Ciayo
Now Era:
Speaking about "hidden", Yayuk Ciayo very much deserves our attention and appreciation in midst of our busy and uncertain world.

Yayuk is an Indonesian female worker in Taiwan and has worked there for more than 3 years. One of Yayuk's daily duties is to prepare food for the household where she works.

A very humblle young Kartini from Java, who had to travel all the way to other country to help support her family in Indonesia. Stricken with a lot of controversies, even from her fellow Indonesians, Younger Sister Yayuk keeps going and sometimes has to ignore the unpleasant comments she has to accept.

Among her routines, Younger Sister Yayuk can still spare her time to become a Youtuber.

Listening to one of Younger Sister Yayuk's videos, I got the following valuable lessons:
1. Above all, we should be grateful that we are still given life and health, the result of a very wise reflection after witnessing a girl with autism in Taiwan, who everyday has to be accompanied and supervised by her mother.

2. We should be grateful that we can still eat.
Younger Sister Yayuk tells about her family's life, full of concerns, in their village.

Part of this story that really touches my humanity and sympathy was when Yayuk's mother cooked sun-dried rice, but she herself did not eat it because she was worried that her children would not eat enough.
Younger Sister Yayuk said, the sun-dried rice recooked by her mother was the most delicious food she had ever tasted!

Yayuk continues to struggle in a faraway land, to ensure that at least her family in their village no longer eat sun-dried rice.

Bravo Younger Sister Yayuk, jiayou, ganbatte kudasai, keep up the spirit, and never give up!

Younger Sister Yayuk's Superiorities: A very high spirit that does not give in at all with poverty or lack of food, even though she has to exchange everything with the happiness of "Mangan ora mangan asal ngumpul" (Javanese for "either we have something to eat or not at all, we gather together."

Dedicated to my late biological mother Lim Siucu, my two adoptive mothers, the late Mrs. H. Pasaribu/br. Panjaitan and Umi Roslina Siregar in Tanjungbalai Asahan, the five Kartinis above (six with Mother Margot, I don't want to keep you hidden), and other Kartinis who are no less extraordinary, wherever you are.

Jonggol, April 7th, 2021
With all my respect,

Johan Japardi