Commemmoration 133 Years of Javanese Immigration
‘Ombak Ombak’ (Waves in Javanese), a poem I wrote for the commemmoration of 133 years Javanese Immigration organized by Stichji. This poem is an ode to my great-grandma ‘bok Semoe’ and all the other ‘jaji’s’ (companions) that traveled with her. Bok Semoe was born in Domas, abducted and transported to Suriname to work in Indentured servitude on the plantation Voorburg. The poem captures the longing for the homeland, for family, love, the pain and the colonial trauma that flows through the veins of descendents in the present.
An Ode to Queerness Poetry Night in ADAM&CO
Every other month, ADAM&CO hosts a poetry evening in collaboration with Gershwin Bonevacia, offering a platform for emerging literary talents. On February 1, 2023, Sunny Lamin Barrow was invited to curate the event, drawing inspiration from the theme “An Ode to Queerness.” Poets were invited to interpret and embody the theme, sharing their personal expressions of what queerness means to them.
Mamio: The Power of Language
How can you call a language a mother? A home? How can you create a language that heals? I remember when I was 8 years old in primary school, wanting to learn more about Sranan Tongo (Suriname’s Lingua Franca). A language that was developed during slavery, containing a mix of languages from all of our past colonizers ( English, Dutch, and some Spanish, French and Portuguese). Most of our teachers at that time forbade us to talk it. They associated it with ‘street talk’ and the opposite of ‘development’. This poem ‘Mamio’ captures the resistance embedded in Sranan Tongo and many of my frustrations of colonial ways of thinking and larger systems of oppression and exclusion. But it also contains my hopes, dreams, and inspiration I get from incredible Black writers and activists like Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King, Amanda Gormand, and Babs Gons. Performed during the Designing Cities for All Fellowship of OneWorld and Pakhuis de Zwijger ‘Redesigning Journalism: The Power of Language’.
Kar’ Yu Srefi
In 2020, amidst the pandemic, I moved from Suriname to the Netherlands to study a master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology. It was a year full of challenges, doubts, changes, but also so much to be grateful for. This poem is a mantra to reflect and come back to my true self whenever the world is moving too fast and ‘life’ is living you instead of you living life. “Kar’ Yu Srefi” literally translate to “call yourself” and refers to the Surinamese tradition where we touch the walls on our house, call out our name three times and say goodbye to the house when we move. This is how we take our spirit with us to a new phase of life. Performed during the programme ‘Dilemma op Dindsag’.