The Words of the Joosten Family

With Love from Suriname

Barbara Joosten
November 1980

Written during her stay in the United States, this article is based on the author's early experiences in Suriname.

Suriname is a developing country in South America, on the northeast coast between Guyana and French Guiana. It has a population of 350,000 people. For the size of the country, the population is very small. More than half of the total population (200,000 people) live in the capital city Paramaribo. Most of the other people live in tribes or little communities in the jungle, and even the atmosphere in the city is very family-like.

We arrived in 1975, just before Suriname achieved independence, so there was no strong feeling of one nation. There are about six different races: Creole, Bush-Negroes, East Indian, Indian, Javanese and Chinese, each with its distinct culture and language. Until independence, they all kept their own identity and language, although they were in one country. The main challenge of the Suriname government, therefore, has been to form one nation. People have a family-like feeling for members of their own racial group, but not for the other races that make up the nation.

When we arrived, there was quite a lot of confusion and insecurity, because independence was due within four or five months. The Dutch people had given a lot of money and other forms of aid to the nation, but they did not build up a sense of nationality. So, when the Dutch retreated, the people of Suriname were at a loss.

Before independence, we were very inspired, because the nation was so small, and the people so friendly and openhearted. We didn't want to help only individuals, we wanted to be a service to the whole nation. In addition, we thought that because the nation is so small, many things would be needed, and we could help in some way.

We bought newspapers and tried to read them. Although not one of us could speak Dutch, because I knew German, it was not too difficult to figure out the meaning of written Dutch, so somehow I translated the news. We bought various newspapers and tried to find out the political situation. What we were searching for were people who really love God and who care about the nation. We found quite a lot of people who wanted to sacrifice themselves for the nation, people who had a strong faith and high ideals. We were praying for these people especially. Also, we were trying to find some way to relate to such people, since we thought we could serve these people best.

Through our Japanese brother, who came to this country as a journalist, we contacted a news agency. In the whole country, there was no English newspaper, but a lot of foreigners would be coming for the independence celebration. Our desire was to let the people know about this beautiful country and the ideals its people share, by means of a news publication. Suriname is one of the few nations in the world that has never known fighting among the races, where there has never been any kind of war. Although the people don't yet have a strong sense of unity, there is no general race discrimination.

Only occasionally something comes up in a political context, but there is no discrimination in the people's hearts.

Sometimes you can see people in poor areas living together happily, without any racial barrier. The only native people were the Amerindians, but they are now a very small community because they were nearly wiped out by the first conquest. Other people who came to this country were black slaves from West Africa and East Indians and Javanese brought in to increase the labor force. They all adopted Suriname as their country.

When we saw this situation, we had the idea of a little United Nations, which is struggling to become one nation. That was the main inspiration behind our first newspaper. The news agency we contacted asked us to write about the history of Suriname in English. I could not speak much English or read the Dutch newspapers and publications, but I could figure out the meaning of Dutch articles. So at night, I would sit down, looking up each word in a dictionary. It was a very rough English translation. The American brother took my paper and tried to figure out what I meant and then put it into good English. Our Japanese brother coordinated everything.

The first English newspaper in Suriname came out at the time of independence, not under our name, but under the name of the news agency. It was well accepted. We didn't get any money from the project; we just did it as a public service. The newspaper was distributed to all the hotels in the country, and reached the visitors to the independence celebration.

Independence came in November of 1975. I can give one story which shows something of the atmosphere of the occasion. Just before independence, the country did not yet have a constitution. So all the different races represented in Parliament were searching for some solution. The Negro and East Indian parties had some disagreements, and it seemed that a civil war might result.

People were very nervous. Many Dutch people returned to Holland at that time. Also, houses were burned. We feared that some violence could happen, caused by political interests. Nevertheless, all people really hoped for unity.

At that time, many prayer groups were formed, and all the churches prayed for unity and a peaceful independence celebration.

The last day allowed for the constitution to be formulated, everything was tense. There was a last meeting of Parliament. That day, many people walked to the Parliament building. Blacks, Indians and people of all races stood around. Everything was very quiet, and everybody was afraid of what could happen. They waited for their leaders to come out. At last, the leaders appeared at the door. The atmosphere was tense. People would either fight or embrace each other.

Then the Prime Minister proclaimed that they had found some way to include everybody and to make a good constitution. Then they embraced. It sparked a reaction among the people. They embraced, they cried, they laughed, they sang and they danced.

Upon this foundation independence came. There was no hate for the Dutch, only friendliness and love. Nearly everybody in the whole country came to the big stadium for the celebration. Can you imagine a whole nation being together? It was very unusual. People demonstrated their culture through dances and many other ways.

On the one hand, everybody was so happy, but on the other, a great responsibility lay ahead of them. Many times, we have experienced this with Father. We say we will do something when we are inspired. But the reality of doing it is much more difficult. It was the same in our nation.

After this, we had some problems of unity among the three missionaries. At one point, we separated for 40 days in order to make a condition to find unity. During this time we prayed to find the person who could be the savior of this country and build up this nation, because the nation was like a little baby, just cut off from its mother. We thought that at this time God wanted to work and give some direction to our country.

There was one lady for whom we had already prayed a long time. She was a member of Parliament who inspired us through her speeches and ways of sacrificing herself. One time I saw a vision of her.

When we united again, we decided we had to meet this lady somehow. Our Japanese brother, who is a journalist, phoned her and made an appointment to meet with her. When we found the address, we were very surprised to see that she lived in a very poor home.

We asked her how she thought about saving this country and building up one good nation. We told her we wanted to help her. So from this time, our relationship started. We inspired her so much by the idea of the Divine Principle, so we soon developed a deep relationship with her, and since that time we have been working together. Actually, she has become a very dear sister.

During that time, we didn't do much with the newspaper, but after four or five months, we decided to start it again. Shinichiro Mikuni, our Japanese brother, had to suffer alone because Richard Van Loon, our American brother, and I didn't want to continue the newspaper. We thought we did not have a sufficient foundation of members. Since Mikuni still wanted to do it, he finally said he would continue it anyhow, even if he had to do it alone. That was the kind of pioneer spirit which was needed. So he did it, even though we opposed it. But we saw more and more how it could serve the country and advance God's purpose. So Richard and I participated more and more in writing articles.

In this newspaper, which we called Mini-World, we tried to give a description of the history and economy of Suriname. What we really wanted to do was to arouse a spirit of unity and brotherhood among the people, showing that they all have a common cause and a common purpose. Since the people are from so many different races, they can discover precious things in other nations, races and religions.

We went to visit politicians, economists, religious leaders and all kinds of people to get interviews. Not only were they inspired by being able to give an interview, but also by the idea of Mini-World. Actually, Mini- World became a slogan for us. When people asked us, "Why are you here?" we would reply, "because we see Suriname as a mini-world, and we want to make Suriname an example for the whole world, or at least South America, of how people can live together without race discrimination or other problems, by making unity as brothers and sisters." Although the finished product was not there, we wanted to show how Suriname could grow, like a little baby, through all its problems.

Mini-World even became the theme of our center. We did not establish our church in the beginning. Suriname is such a small country, we thought, that if we can build up one family which includes all nations, this can be an example for the whole nation. If we can build up one family centered on God, this is actually the purpose we want to fulfill. It is not important to make another church, because there were already so many problems between churches. Many churches opposed us, because of the rumors about our movement, but they could accept our family. Many people were inspired through this one family system. So we called our family "Mini-World."

When we established our center two and a half years ago, we called it the Mini-World Center. This is not only a church center (although, of course, its backbone is the church), but also a place where journalists and political leaders can come to give talks. We could invite many people through this newspaper, and even spread the paper throughout the country and distribute it to different nations.

This became another way in which we could serve the people. Because Suriname is so small, it does not have many ways to express itself abroad. So through this newspaper, we could publicize the character of this nation to other countries.

The newspaper started out very small, but eventually, we could print color on the cover, and make it in the format of a monthly news magazine. We print an average of 1,500 copies a month. Usually, the cost of printing is covered by advertising and subscriptions. Advertising is also a good way to contact people. This was generally my responsibility. I would visit people, and not just ask them to give us advertising, but explain the purpose of the paper. Many times, people would be inspired by its purpose and would want to buy advertising. However, the present economic situation in the country has made selling advertising more difficult.

In the beginning, we printed the paper as a public service, and sent it out to every politician. After some time, people from the government began to come to us and ask for back issues. We did a series of articles on the country's economy, for instance, which was very well received. The newspaper is read by people in the government and at the university. Every month, we send about 200 copies to the government. In addition, the government has made arrangements with us to send the paper to all the embassies. Sometimes, we receive telephone calls from diplomats asking for special issues.

Since our American brother was called back to the United States, we have had a problem, because neither Mikuni nor I write English perfectly. We need somebody to proofread the paper. We have been able to find people temporarily who can help us. For a while, for instance, people from the Bahai Faith helped. They like our ideal, because it is similar to their beliefs. In addition, we now print a page in Spanish.

One of our friends, a Suriname man who works as an advisor to the Korean embassy, has written some articles about South Korea in the paper. We contacted him through our paper, and he has now become close to us.

At the time of the Washington Monument speech in 1976, we printed Father's entire address in the paper. We had a long discussion on this, but we finally decided to do it, thinking that since we had written articles on every religion in Suriname, we could also give publicity to the Unification Church.

One of our problems has been in deciding how much to involve ourselves in political affairs. In developing countries, people do not want to align themselves directly with either communism or democracy, preferring to go their own way. To find people who are really serious about the good of their country is difficult. We pray very much about the political situation of our country. One of our members, Albertina, is a former member of Parliament and retains a keen interest in the direction of Suriname. At one time, the political situation became extremely tense. Parliament could not accomplish anything, because the government party and the opposition party had the same number of votes in Parliament. It seemed as though a civil war might break out. During those days, we prayed to find out God's will. Then our Japanese brother and Albertina both received the inspiration that the only way to avoid bloodshed would be to set a fasting condition. We did not call it a hunger strike, but a fast, because we wanted to do it for God's purpose, not just to achieve a political result. So Albertina decided to sit in front of the Parliament building and fast until the crisis was resolved.

Before she began the fast, she made a statement and distributed it to the Prime Minister, the President and each political party. We did not want our church to be too openly involved, at least externally. So she went with some of our members who are not so well known, and Mikuni and I stayed behind.

She began the fast in the morning with prayer, sitting under a tree known locally as the 'Tree of Good and Evil. As support, Mikuni fasted with her, and the rest of us went every night to be with her.

We really wanted to make this a national event. From that day on, many other churches also began to pray. Of course, some people knew that we were behind this, so they would try to de-emphasize it and deride her as a foolish lady who didn't wash her clothes, and things like that.

Nevertheless, we received many positive responses. We did not know how long the fast would last, since we decided that the fast would continue until the moment that the two parties came together and Parliament could function again.

The President was impressed; in fact, he was so moved that he could not pass by the tree where Albertina was sitting. People sympathized with her, because they could feel what it meant for a young woman to sit outside day and night. It was also during this time that her family could unite with her. They would come to support her, staying with her day and night.

During this time, we would sit and pray together. It was very, very hot and humid. Even though it would rain, she would stay there, without any umbrella or protection. She got wet and then dried out, she got wet again, and then dried out. At first, people would get really upset, be cause they could not understand what was going on. There was always a big circle of people around her. Every day people would come from the radio station to interview her (there is not very much news in this country).

They would say, "If this lady does not eat soon, she will die." We know, of course, that people can fast at least 21 days without too much trouble.

We prayed very much during that time. For me it was so difficult, because I wanted to be with her so much, but I could go only at night. In the mornings, when I had to leave her, I would cry so much. Each morning, some sister would cover her with a cloth, so she could change her clothes. Each day I washed her clothes.

This was a wonderful time for our family, a time of real unity.

On the tenth day, we felt that something was about to happen. The politicians could not stand that fact of someone fasting any longer. They felt like they had to do something. People were worried that she would die from fasting, and then the news would get out to other nations. Somehow, they were forced to do something. So the opposing parties made unity with one another.

After the fast, some people prepared a car to pick Albertina up and carry her home, but she sneaked away quietly and walked back to the center, where we had prepared a nice meal for her. 

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