Author: Michael Passage

Hello, my name is Jace Barton. I am 19 years old and was born in Wichita, Kansas. My Oma, Virginia Astrid Davis, was born in Holland but moved to America with her family to better the lives of our family and future generations to come.

Growing up I was always teased at school for having squinty eyes, people would call me chink or ask me all the time if I was Asian; this put me into a shell and made me hate my face. Even in high school after the Asian jokes stopped, I was still being teased. I loved my culture and wanted to tell everyone what I was. Many people told me I was just a white American and that I need to stop pretending to be something I’m not, since I was born in America.

The story of my family is one that I will always cherish. My great Opa, Henricus Martinus Peeters, or Henk for short, was a retired sergeant major for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. My Oma was born and raised in Solo, Indonesia. She was the daughter of a Dutch-Indonesian mother and a Dutch father.

After the World War II was over, Indonesia gained its independence from Holland. My Oma, Hetty had to leave with her mother and sisters to live in Holland, a place unfamiliar to them. My great Opa had perished as a prisoner of war in a Japanese prison.

My Opa had been held for four years as a prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp. He was sent home on the same ship as my Oma and her family. My Opa and Oma met and fell in love. They married and had two children while living in Holland for 7 years.

After much consideration, they decided to move to America and become citizens of the United States. Hours upon hours they worked to learn English and be the best parents they could be to their children: My Oma, Virginia, my Uncle Henk, and my two aunts, Anita and Tania.

My Oma and aunt Anita’s lives were changed drastically after coming to America. Going to school was hard for them, they were constantly teased for having dark skin and hair and for speaking Dutch. This prompted them to stop speaking Dutch and to be more American in their day to day lives. As more generations were made in our family, we lost the Dutch tongue in our households. While the heritage is not as apparent, it still resides. My aunt Tania always has hagelslag in her home, something I loved eating as a child and even to this day. My Oma and aunt Anita always love telling me stories of Holland and our heritage.

I know now that as a young adult it is my job and passion to bring our heritage even more so into the family: The language, the food, everything that makes us Indo’s who we are.

The past generations as well as the new may feel as though our heritage is dying, but not on my watch. I will always make sure people know what I am and where I come from, my family did not sacrifice their entirety to have their heritage forgotten and left to the books.

I was asked what it’s like growing up Indo, and while I may not have been raised in a complete Indo household, I still think that I am one of many amazing and diverse people who will not be forgotten and will thrive for many more generations. I am proud to be Indo.

Hi! My name is Christiaan Verbeek. I’m 23 years old and I was born in San Diego CA. I’m half Indo and half Italian. My father was born in Bali, Indonesia in 1934. My Opa was from Rotterdam and went to Indonesia during the war where he met my Oma who lived in Meester Cornelis on Java.

Growing up Indo gave me mixed feelings. I grew up not really fitting in. Where as other kids could say “I’m full German, I’m full Filipino, I’m full etc” I never had that option. I felt there was nothing I could claim that was 100% mine. That I 100% belonged to that place or tradition. Our family was thrown into Japanese concentration camps and after my dad and his family got sponsors to come to America as refugees, he never talked about home any more. I was raised an American and I spoke English. I grew up not knowing any of my fathers story except for his hatred towards the Japanese (we still do not buy Japanese cars or products in my family). One common thing however, and the thing I latched on to the most as my main source of what I identified what I was, was my dads love for all things tropical. When he got asked what he was he would always say “Pacific Islander”. So that was it, that’s what I was. I was Pacific Islander. I took hula lessons, I grew up in the Pacific community, I’m a Tahitian drummer, and the proud owner of a pacific island drum business where we hand make and sell traditional pacific island instruments all around the world (that’s where my Bali artisan blood comes in haha)
As I dug more and more deeper I found how incredibly similar our customs are to other islands in the pacific, how similar our languages are, and I learned about this great migration of an ancient people who conquered the largest ocean on the planet with a simple canoe, who’s roots stem from Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. I researched the languages and found words in bahasa are the exact same with the same meaning as words in Hawaiian and Samoan. That tattoos in Samoa came from designs on pottery from Indonesia and other islands. I was so proud to know that this was in my blood but “indo” was still not in my vocabulary. Even when I would say “yea I’m indo” I would get “is that like Hawaiian or something??” So I tried “im Indonesian” for awhile but it just didn’t sound right, then I tried “I’m Dutch” but that didn’t work for me either. So I gave up. I said I was Hawaiian, or half Samoan, anything to get off the subject.

My fathers family lives in Long Beach and in Holland so I grew up not knowing them. Maybe once a year at gatherings but that only made me feel more secluded, as I was this Pacific Islander kid with these random brown skin people speaking Dutch. It wasn’t until 2010 when in saw that KNVB was in the World Cup where I was like “wait, some of those guys are Dutch and indo like me” and the spark finally went off. I bought the jerseys, I was rooting for them in every game! I would hear my dad talk to his sister every night on the phone in Dutch just in awe as I craved to learn what he was saying. I YouTubed Dutch songs that I still listen to today. Dad shot me down a few time by saying “don’t you know that the Dutch HATED the Indos when we went to holland because we are dark??” So once again, I was Pacific Islander. Once again I gave up. As time went on, I finally got to a point where I had enough. I needed to know if there was others like me, if there were more Indos and what it was like to be an indo. I got mad I couldn’t find Indonesian t shirts so I made my own. I made my own “indo pride” decal sticker for my car next to a sticker of the Indonesian islands. I contemplated getting a Dutch lion tattooed on me. I was going nuts. I was mixing my pacific island upbringing and putting an indo twist on it “bringing the pacific culture back to my dads islands” as I liked to say. I rode that wave for quite some time, of course stirring up controversy along the way. It wasn’t until a few months ago where I happened to stumble upon some Indonesian music from Maumere that sounded very similar to the island tunes I grew up with, only finally dad could understand them. I kept searching and downloading songs, listening to them everyday singing in their dialect and in bahasa until I finally stumbled upon real INDO music. Indo People singing in Dutch and Indonesian about growing up being indo. Something re wired in my brain and it finally clicked. I am indo and I knew it all along. I grew up being an American Pacific Islander but really I was an Indo kid doing everything with an indo twist. Finally after 23 years I was proud to be Indo.

So the question was, what’s it like growing up Indo? It’s pretty awesome. To be a mix race which in turn is a culture all it’s own. I am NOT Indonesian, I am NOT Dutch, I am Indo.

Aloha, my name is Charles Pieters and I was born in Alkmaar, Netherlands in the 60s, I have one sister and a brother. My father left Batavia now called Jakarta, Indonesia in 1957 to go to Netherlands and was settle in by the Dutch government in a small town called Schoorl, Netherland with my 1st Opa and Oma. My 1st Opa passed away a year later and my Oma remarried to my 2nd Opa. I never met my 1st Opa on my dad side but remember 2nd Opa very well while I was in Netherlands. My Oma and 2nd Opa finally moved to Alkmaar and settle there with my father and his six brothers and two sisters. My father met my mother who is also Indo in Alkmaar where they had me, my brother and sister. I still remember going to catholic school where the nuns and teachers where very strict. We left Alkmaar in 1969 and settle in a town called Concord, California. When I came to the US, I did not speak or understand English at all but had great teacher, I still speak and understand Dutch but to read it or write I have a very difficult time. I use google translation, lol My parents’ divorce when I was young and my father raised me, my brother and sister as a single parent. He was very strict but always had his support and insuring we always had a good life. My father has taught me a lot as I was growing up. He always told me you must always do your best son in whatever you do, don’t disgrace our name and be proud that you are Dutch Indonesian (Indo) After I graduate high school, I join the United States Army at age 17 for a two year enlistment and station in Germany. I went to Alkmaar every month to see my family in Alkmaar since it was only a four hour train ride. It was so great seeing the family again and eating Indo food. I wanted to leave the Army as soon as my enlistment contract was over but the Army and my father convince me to reenlist. I started to go to some Army Leadership schools, travel all over the world and started to like it, instilling leadership into my young life at the time. Well, what turn into a two year enlistment end up being 31 years of active duty military service and I achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major, which is the highest rank you can achieve as an enlisted Soldier in the military. I retired at age 47 from the military in 2010 here in Hawaii and started to work for Disney on the island of Oahu as a driver taking guest from Waikiki to the resort where I work. Disney found out I had some Leadership and ask me to be a Manager/Leader here at this awesome & beautiful resort called Aulani a Disney Resort & Spa. I’m living my dream by being in paradise but I miss my Indo food, Life is good. I’m proud to be an Indo Charles