January 15, 2009

Almaden Community Center class leads to book of poems

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Tri Sumarti Soetarman was born in Indonesia, educated in Jakarta and Canter-bury, England and moved to Canada before coming to northern California about 10 years ago.

Tri Sumarti Soetarman reads from her book of poems entitled “Compassion and Consideration” to a group of seniors at a presentation held earlier this month. The book is scheduled to be published in early February and will be available at local stores.

During her stay in Canada she was hit by a car—her knee was fractured and bones in her hip and shin were broken as well as four ribs. It took her four-and-a-half years to recover. Her walking has improved immensely and, while she walks slowly, she no longer requires a walker.

It was during her recovery that she decided to write a book of poems, which will be published next month. “Compassion and Consideration” will be available at local bookstores.

“I want to help people. I have compassion because people had compassion for me and I want to pass this on,” she told the Times. “I wrote the book because I was handicapped and I want to be useful for myself and to be happy.”

She wrote the book of 87 poems in her spare time after her brother gave her a computer.

Soetarman’s journey through life has been quite successful, she notes. She earned a law degree in Jakarta and then traveled to England’s Kent College to study and do post-graduate work. Once here, she attended a free creative writing class at the Almaden Community Center, which started her on her way.

For the past few years she has worked as a caregiver for an older woman who has since passed away. She is currently looking for new work and hopes to find another job as a caregiver. Writing the book, she said, and working, help her to feel useful.

She dedicated the book to 10 people from around the world including Germany, Russia, Australia, England, Canada, Pakistan, Indonesia, Los Gatos and San Jose. These people have helped or been a strong part of her life in various ways.

Soetarman previewed the book to seniors at the Almaden Community Center last week and later that day talked about writing it during an adult-education class.