Erwiana’s father recalls emotional reunion with daughter after Hong Kong nightmare
Rohmad Saputro , father of domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, tells how after months of worrying, his worst fears were realised when she returned home; his daughter is remarkably forgiving about her ordeal
For eight months, Rohmad Saputro would wake up in the middle of the night, in the house he built himself with wood and bricks, praying to Allah that his daughter, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, was safe in Hong Kong.
Not a day had gone by without him thinking about his daughter. But all he could do was pray.
She had only called once in three months after she left home in May 2013 to become a domestic helper in Hong Kong, a bustling city 4,000 kilometres away.
Then, on January 20 last year, at 3pm, a car stopped in front of his house in a remote village in Ngawi city, Indonesia.
A young Indonesian woman he did not know alighted from the car and told Rohmad that his daughter had finally returned – but that something had gone wrong. Erwiana had been found, injured and fragile, at Hong Kong airport, on her way home.
“She said that my daughter has finally returned home, but in a very poor condition,” the 49-year-old father recalls in a calm voice, adding that the woman accompanied Erwiana home.
That January day, Rohmad’s heart sank, unprepared for what state his daughter would be in inside the car.