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People, not numbers: The man who lived through miracles
The unforgettable kindness of a youth minister
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Meant to be: Samuel (left) poses with his wife, Ina Boediono. They only met five times before deciding to get married. (Personal collection) (Personal collection/Courtesy of the Samuel Saputra family)
T
he sheer number of COVID-19 deaths has made it easy to forget that behind the statistics lie the stories of individuals who could have lived on to do so much more for the community. In “People, not numbers”, The Jakarta Post remembers some of these people’s lives through the eyes of those who knew them best.
Nobody in his position was supposed to make it. He was supposed to disappear into the void, like so many have before him. But something happened to his life, something perhaps beyond mortal understanding.
Samuel Saputra believed in the possibility of redemption and the audacity of hope, simply because his own life was a triumph of faith over circumstance. An educator, youth minister, loving husband and spiritual father to many, his death due to COVID-19 complications on July 2 has left a gaping hole in the lives of those he left behind.
“I felt as though God had fulfilled all the promises he made years ago,” his wife, Ina Boediono, said recently. “Samuel had ministered from Sabang to Merauke. He had travelled the world and spoken to crowds of thousands. He enjoyed his life. But, I suppose, God moves at his own pace.”
From humble beginnings
When Samuel first declared his love for Ina almost three decades ago, he gave her a short, curt warning. “He told me, ‘This is my life. This is where I came from,’” Ina recalled. “‘It’s very different from yours. Will you still take me?’”
Ina was a pious woman from an educated, middle class family. Samuel was on the right track. When they met in 1991, he was an up-and-coming minister, soon to depart for the United States to study theology. The path to his vocation, though, was a rather scenic one.
