A letter from Rebecca Young in Indonesia
June 2010
“For unto us, a son is born.”
Becca with baby Rhico just four hours old, Yogyakarta, March 27, 2010.
It isn’t Christmas, but it certainly feels like it to me. Rhico Tri Fidiansyah was born on March 27, 2010, to Insafi Gulo and Budi Hartono. I wrote about the marriage of Rhico’s parents in my newsletter of May 2009. As I noted in that newsletter, Insafi is my adopted daughter. She suffered injuries in the 2004 tsunami and lost her right foot. During her therapy she met Budi, who makes prosthetic devices at the rehabilitation center. Budi had polio as a child and is permanently crippled. Their meeting at the rehab center led to a romance, then marriage, and now a handsome son.
Rhico lives with his parents in the town of Yogyakarta, about 340 miles east of Jakarta on the island of Java. When his mother was already a week past her due date, I went to Yogyakarta for a meeting and stopped in to visit the expectant parents. We sat up late one evening talking about Budi and Insafi’s dreams for their coming child.
They told me that they hadn’t yet picked out a name, so I half jokingly said, “What about ‘America’? Then you can call her Rica.” Budi’s mother, seated beside me, objected. “That’s a girl’s name. What if it is a boy?” (Note that mothers-in-law throughout the world tend to be a tad competitive when it comes to their grandchildren.) Again without a lot of forethought I said, “Rico.” Budi, the father, grinned, and I had a feeling that he approved.
That night the baby decided his time had come. His parents joked that he had been waiting for me to arrive. On my part, I was simply thrilled that he was healthy and safe in his mother’s arms. A few hours after his birth I was allowed to go into the hospital nursery to see him. I don’t think that the nurse believed I was his grandmother, but she played along when given the nod by his proud father.
After he was born, his father told me that he had indeed decided to use Rhico as his son’s name, based on my suggestion. The other two names, Tri and Fidiansyah, were chosen by his parents. Tri is his maternal grandfather’s name. Fi is from the end of his mother’s first name and di is from the end of his father’s first name, since he is a combination of the two of them. According to his mother, the name ansyah means perfectly healthy, although the Indonesian dictionary says it means king. So he is the perfectly healthy prince of Insafi and Budi.
Ibu Siswanti massages Rhico in preparation for the head shaving, Yogyakarta, May 5, 2010.
According to Javanese tradition, a baby’s head is shaved at the age of 40 days. The meaning of the ritual is to express thanks to God for the blessing of a healthy child. Rhico’s 40th day was on Thursday, May 5, so I happily returned to Yogyakarta to be part of the ceremony.
The family had hired a local woman named Ibu Siswanti to do the head shaving. I was impressed with her professionalism. She began by giving the baby a full body massage. I watched in awe as the baby calmly submitted to the vigorous massaging of his legs, back and stomach. She then wrapped him tightly in a batik cloth. Just as she was about to touch the razor to his head, his father Budi stopped her and asked that the grandmother have the honor of being the first one to cut little Rhico’s hair. Mrs. Siswanti obliged, and Insafi handed me a pair of scissors. I cut about half an inch off the ends, afraid to go any closer to his delicate scalp. But Mrs. Siswanti didn’t hesitate at all, and once I was done she proceeded quite quickly and efficiently to shave his entire head. Amazingly, Rhico fell asleep during the process.
Ibu Siswanti blesses Rhico after the head shaving, Yogyakarta, May 5, 2010.
After she was done with the shaving, Mrs. Siswanti put down the razor and held Rhico tight, kissing his head and whispering blessings over it. It was touching to see the tenderness with which she held and caressed him. For a few brief moments it was as though he was the most important child on earth, warmly embraced and welcomed into a new phase of his life as a newly shaven and perfectly healthy little king.
Watching Mrs. Siswanti’s celebration of Rhico’s new life, I couldn’t help but think of how Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple when he was 40 days old to be blessed by Simeon. David Steele, in his book The Next Voice You Hear: Sermons We Preach Together (Louisville: Geneva Press, 1999), urges us to see the light of Jesus’ salvation in every child:
Simeon
This preacher
Claimed scholarly research had documented
That Simeon,
Of Simeon and Anna,
Had pronounced the very same blessing
(The one in Luke 2:27-35)
Over all the babies presented to him in the Temple
Those final years of his life
(Around 5 B.C.).He was pulling my leg, of course.
Budi and Insafi, the proud parents, after Rhico’s head shaving ceremony, Yogyakarta, May 5, 2010.
But when I read the blessing
And thought about it,I began to wish he was right
About Simeon … and those babies.
And I began thinking about our babies.And I wished someone,
Some Simeon,
Might hold my grandbabies high … and yours …
The born ones and the not yet …
Proclaiming to them with great conviction,
“You are the saviors of the world!”
Meaning it so absolutely
Those young’uns would live it,
And love it,
And make it happen!
As Mrs. Siswanti held Rhico tight and blessed him, I thought of Simeon and Jesus, and I hoped that Rhico was hearing how he too is part of the divine plan to save the world. I hope he will live it, love it, and make it happen as a precious new child of God that he is.
Becca
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 132
