"We Found Love in a Hopeless Place"

Well, yeah it was the line from Rihanna's song, yet actually it happened in 18 July 2012, on my experience to a nursing home in Jakarta.

Haha, easy, it's not me who in love with granny. It's just we literally found that "love" in that "hopeless" place. Let me mention the words.

First, This nursing home is called  Panti Werdha Budi Mulia 4. It is located near Pondok Indah Mall. Don't you imagine this building is as glamour as the mall I've mentioned before. Nope, it is not. It is just an ordinary, yet fair house to live in. There is nothing excessive. And I have to be honest that the place is kinda smelly. It is because most of the elderly pee in their room, they barely go to the lavatory to do the 'thing'. So yaaa, you know what happens :) Anyway, this nursing home is inhabited by more than 100 grannies, male and female. Sadly, it only has 2 nannies to take care of those 100 grannies. As we were there, we we were guided by the nursing home officers, her name was Ibu Farra, she told us that most of the elderly there, 80 % of them, were taken from the street. Unfortunately, about more than 70% of them came in depression. Generally, they got lost in this big complicated city,  Jakarta, and could not find their way home. Some of them came by their own will. For example, there was one of the granny who used to be a prostitute. I forget her name, but she was so warm, friendly and nice. She came to the nursing home for her own safety. It was so sad, knowing the condition. I wonder whether it was their family's fault for not keeping them safe or what. And I'm so sorry about that. That was quite obvious to define "hopeless" word, wasn't it? Yeah, I hope it was.

This is the bed room, 10-12 grannies sleep together in one room

Next, the second word. "Love" in here is love. The smile, the laughter, the dimples on faces, the toothless smiles, the blushes on cheeks. It's all sweet. I've never been simply happy before. You know what seeing people smiling gives enormous energy. Love is not always about a couple who fall in love and ready to be an item. No, it is way more than that. But, we will talk about that, later hahha. Anyway, in that nursing home, I feel home. As the grannies feel too, they feel home for they have a lot of friends to be shared. They said to me, keep talking with friends and doing things are the best way to live your life.

This is me with those beautiful grannies :) sweet haha

I talked to one granny, her name was Nenek Ida, if I'm not mistaken. Everyday, she made some cute little knitted crafts. She did so for she said that she needed to be more productive as much as she could. Some woman, eh? hahaha. I talked quite a lot with her. Interesting, she said that being in  a nursing home was not that bad like the people used to think. They were happy, as I said before. They feel comfortable with the place, even tough she said that not many people came to their place for visit. Hence, they were really glad to have us there.There were a lot of laughter and giggle when we were there, and I was happy for that because--it might seem simple--we made them laugh and felt so cared by us. It was a blessed. Nenek Ida said to me that actually, it was not our donation which they needed the most, yet the care was the most needed thing for them.

Nenek Ida and me, holding those cute little knitted crafts

Did I mention about love and being an item? Well yeah, this is the surprising thing within the nursing home. These grannies had a love life in there!!!! hahaha. Yep, they were having relationship, flirting each other, and even getting married! I'm not kidding about that haha. Ibu Farra told me that there were some couples in the nursing home. Even, there was an old man who was like Don Juan in that place. Yeah, some kind of player or women-eater!! It was like you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me moment when I heard the thing. I was kinda laughing out loud knowing the truth. It was just like bewilderingly unbelievable hahaha.

Well, I hope you can understand what I mean by "we found love in a hopeless place". Funny, it is because I've never imagined my self in a nursing home, having chit-chat with the elderly, sharing smile, laugh, and story. It was amazing. There are some notes that I take, after I went there. First, it is good to take care of people. To give them support, to share laughter and stories to them. It can make you think about the life and learn from it. Second, you should take care of your parents. I mean, those grannies don't want to be there, if they can choose. They positively want to be around their family, surrounded by the love of their sons and daughters. And last, it might be the lamest one, love can be found anywhere, to anyone. I mean, look at them, they are not young anymore, yet they still have a chance to love each other, found their mate, and live happily as they wish.

Once more, God is very funny, for always giving a lot of puzzling yet blissful way of life :)