I was born and grow up in small village, where is surrounded by herbs, and people who great believer in herbs. What more my parent they only believe in herbal medicine. At the same time that time my family cannot afford to buy modern medicine or to go to hospital where also is far from our village. In my family I have 4 sisters, we so close and often we gossip while eating chili and fruit (one the most regular thing to do) so issues of women’s health and beauty were normal for us. Some more my mum she very close to us and the most open mother compare to other village women’s.
In Indonesia every morning “Jamu Gendong” (women selling freshly made herbal medicine) routine come to the village, houses and offices. So we would all order Jamu specific for your age. My mum and older sister that were married will order the Jamu a bit different to us. They would request a combination of fresh herbs and seed for “awet muda” (Youthful energizing herbs) or female astringent herbs for white discharge or tightening herbs. As the youngest child my formula was milder with Turmeric, Ginger or Lempoyang and a little bit of honey for digestive problems. But after the onset of menstruation then the herb combination would be more complex with herbs to assist menstruation and reduce discomfort.
My father would order a special Jamu for him as known as “Jamu kuat lelaki” Strong Men formula, he also like to chit chat or flirt for quite long time with the lady (they traditionally dressed in tight Kebaya). Finally my mum has to remain him to stop because not nice with the Jamu lady she still has to sale her Jamu. Well my father is a kind who loves to talk and joke to any body, special young and pretty women.
As I grew older then my mother started making the formulas herself, especially after my older sisters started giving birth. For 40 days my mother would make the fresh Jamu and all of us would help her prepare, and in the process we would all drink the same herbs.
Another point is that in my family we did not use cosmetics such as moisturizers, sun block, cleansers, toners etc, so what we use is 100% natural herbs, leaves and rice flour to make all that we needed. My sisters and I would enjoy collecting the herbs around the village for formulas for toners, powders, cleansers and hair. When I was 21 only did I use my first moisturizer.
Interest in women’s issues
I am very close to my mother and sisters and observing all my sisters getting married before me and seeing we all lived next door to one another in the village, it was natural that I was surrounded by them and other village women discussing issues of women health, beauty, sexuality and so on. When women come together they discuss about other women as well and in that process I quickly learnt from a very young age what it means to be a women, what are the areas of weakness being a women and what are the ways in which women need help. The areas of weakness included how to maintain one self and keep the interest of one’s husband. Then you had so many stories of women who could not find a husband for various reasons. Basically all these negative gossip taught me that one of the secrets to being a woman is to take care of ones health and beauty. All in all, women in my village placed beauty as an important investment.
After I finished High School I worked as a radio DJ in the city for 4 years as the announcer for a Housewife’s program between 9am to 11am in the morning and for teenagers from 2pm to 4pm afternoon. It was a call in program and even though I was only 17 years old I was mainly getting calls from lonely housewives telling openly about their problems. They had no idea I was only 17 and had never even had a boyfriend yet! But with all my experience growing up with much older sisters I could well of seemed like 37 years old to them. Here I also found that women in the city have somewhat different issues than village women. They were more open in discussing their personal problems, whereas in the village they would be less inclined to talk about themselves in that way. In this environment I forgot about my own age and was very confidant to talk openly with these older women on their problems.
At this time I also studied about Indonesian Jamu. During this time I met my husband, Benjamin Drewe, an Australian Medical Herbalist while he was on a field research trip to my village in Aceh. I also interviewed him on my radio regarding his herbal research.
Since that my interest in jamu especially for women need, be come deeper and deeper. I start to study more about jamu with some midwife around my village. Also at the same time I learn about Sumatran traditional healing using spiritual method.
After marriage, I move to Malaysia where then I create a health café Jamu and start develop a company making jamu health drink. From there I move to a ladies spa with the café environment and it is still base on jamu but a bit more complete. More like my little women’s health and beauty club. It is a place where the women come for their beauty and health treatments, and then sit with their friends at the café. They allowed to staying as long as they want, mostly include my self which is we talked about our own health or perhaps gossiping about other women. I guest that one of the best therapy too for women. I call it natural mental development.
Once in two week I do coffee morning or afternoon tea talk, then my husband Ben start involve. He will give us a free talk and teach my customers of understanding in herbal medicine. It was great experience and fun!
From there, I get to know deeper about what women need and don’t. Now I start manufacturing jamu spa treatment and medicine.
