Ibu Maluku: The Story of Jeanne van Diejen

IBU MALUKU is the unique story of a resolute woman, Jeanne van Diejen-Roemen, who survives the hardships of remote jungles, the horrors of two world wars, and the life-threatening political upheavals that preceded the birth of the Republic of Indonesia. Her story reminds one of Mother Theresa and Florence Nightingale because, like these women, Jeanne had an overriding sense of duty that of wanting to be of service to her fellow- man. During her life, she distinguished herself as a planter, nurse, midwife, gardener, and social worker. In the Moluccas she spearheaded the fight against leprosy, and enabled hundreds of lepers to again assume a useful role in the society that had banished them earlier on. She initiated the plans to bring isolated forest people into the 20th century, and founded a hospital, a school, an orphanage and a home for the elderly.