folder Filed in Journal, Works by Henry
A Home Visit
Edward Suhadi comment 4 Comments
Henry took his time with the seniors. The portraits came out beautifully.

I always wanted this office to be more and more involved in things that matter to the soul. Deadlines are important of course, but often, we need to stop and smell the roses.

Not long ago, we came down to Panti Werdha Melania (a senior home) down in Rempoa, Jakarta. Besides shooting the seniors and the facility for their new website, we also had this big desire to connect to them. For me, being quite active in the church circles, this visit was not my first time. But surprisingly, many of the guys have never visited a senior home before. This fact had made me more eager to give the fellas this experience.

Henry and Wiwik were the first to arrive since the early morning to take pictures of the morning workout. The rest of us arrived later at around 10 am. We bring some snacks, cameras, but most importantly, we bring ourselves.

Like in every point of life, what humans really need is love. Attention. Time. Same goes in this place. Especially in this place. There are many stories of why they ended up here that we cannot be the judge of, but senior homes are often synonymous with loneliness, abandonment, and broken hearts. That’s why when we were there, we gave them all we could. Fresh jokes. Truthful laughters. Genuine interests. And everything given out sincerely will always come back to you. So while Henry was snapping away in his small portable studio, we connected. We asked, we listened, we laughed, we held hands.

By the time we were finished and packed up ready to leave, they were so happy that they try to stall us as long as they can. “We have lots and lots visits to this place, but you kids are the first one that made us feel like we were visited by our real families,” Grandma Anna said. We were surprised to hear this, while at the same time greatly humbled.

Those guys that never visited a home before? Well, they got a bit quiet on the way home, but I can see in their eyes that they had learned and taken something, whatever it was.

Everything given out sincerely will always come back to you. Same goes in this place. Especially in this place.

Believe it or not, these two are still flirting with each other 🙂

Wiwik was also happened to have his birthday on the previous day. When the grandmas asked his age, they then replied, “Still a long way to go kid.”

You can see Henry’s finished portraits here. And we made them a website, their first online presence.

elderly senior social

  1. It was truly memorable 🙂 I definitely got something from there.
    PS : Henry, could you omit that birthday candle please? 🙂

  2. very nice edward suhadi productions!! kudos for the team.. u should visit jeremy cowart’s website : help-portrait.org. i think u have the same vision with him. and if u by any chance want to make it happen in indonesia. i would gladly help u!:D

    1. Hey Wahyudi, I’m a fan of Help Portraits, I think this project is also inspired by what they’re doing over there 🙂 Maybe I’ll make it official in the coming days, making a help portrait sanctioned project here 🙂

  3. @Wiwik: No worries about the candles. On the 2nd picture that showed your birthday cake, the candles looked like 21 instead of 31. And your face looked like 17 (going on 37). Haha…

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