Indonesian Calgarian emphasizes community as beacon of hope and unity during the pandemic

May is Asian Heritage Month and to celebrate, CBC Calgary is featuring Calgarians and what it means to be Asian Canadian in 2021. This First Person piece was written by Jade Gandasubrata, an event production and design director at Simply Elegant, as well as president of the Budaya Nusantara organization. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.

My generation and those younger have never really witnessed the entire world shut down like this before. A lot of negativity has surfaced and we are bombarded with it every day.

In Calgary, it has been heartbreaking to see businesses shut down, increased homelessness, unemployment and people getting sick. There have been days where my body has felt so heavy with life's burden, but what I will remember most from 2020 and 2021 is how we persevered. It inspires me to see how the human spirit still fights and continues on. 

For me, it has been important to shift my focus on to positives. I miss my family overseas but we found new ways to connect even better than before. With Budaya Nusantara, we have also identified better ways to keep our community engaged. Budaya Nusantara is a non-profit organization with the core essence of preserving and celebrating Indonesian heritage and culture and building a community of belonging for our members. 

The members have been amazing and they have really come together, with many members stepping up. We've held many fundraisers over this pandemic, many of them being for natural disasters that happened in Indonesia, but also to find ways we can support our members who are suffering from the hardship of change. It doesn't matter what happens, we are always there for each other. We have the shared bond of moving to a foreign country and a shared passion for celebrating who we are. These shared attributes are the foundation of our friendship and community.

At Simply Elegant, we have had to think creatively in order to keep the business afloat. Though I have always thrived on being busy, I was also forced to slow down, which gave me the opportunity to learn new things from online classes. My children gave me a MasterClass subscription, where I learned about photography, marketing and interior design. One of my favourites was RuPaul's class on self-expression and authenticity.

Something I'm very grateful for is how my father raised me to be proud of who I am, to be true to myself, and to not let anyone push me around or make me feel inferior. A lot of my character and drive and tenacity comes from him. I am very confident and content in who I am. It is also because I choose to be surrounded by people (family, friends, colleagues, community) who accept me for me. I don't allow myself to get fazed by people who don't accept me.

That being said, the pandemic has brought to light a lot more directness and understanding of privilege and oppression, which my family has really wrestled with, too. What I experience as an Indonesian is different from what my husband experiences as a Caucasian Canadian, which is different from what our daughter and son experience as mixed, biracial Indonesian Canadians. The rise of anti-Asian hate affects all four of us emotionally, but we are always there for each other and we support each other no matter what, so its effect is limited.

I don't know anyone personally who has been a victim of these recent race-based attacks, but I feel sad and disappointed and angry at how Asians are being targeted. To those who are victims, I hope you will heal and get the support needed to move past these traumatizing experiences. I think about how these attackers are often people who have not had the chance to, or have chosen not to, connect with a diverse group of people. In a country like Canada, where we so highly value multiculturalism, this makes it that much more hurtful and disappointing.

Our heritage is so unique. We want people to know this.

We are all brothers and sisters at the end of the day. We look different (and that's a good thing!) but we are all still humans. Diversity is good and we should embrace it as I truly believe it makes us all stronger. What is beautiful is when we can celebrate ourselves while also celebrating and respecting others and their heritages. Canada is a great country, full of multiculturalism, but it will take more integration and activation of our diversity to become a bigger force in the world.

Follow #ProudlyAsianCanadian on Instagram for content throughout the month.