Childhood Memories Preserved in Pandes

By: Labodalih Sembiring

 

In the 80s, in towns and cities across Indonesia, the most modern toys a kid could find were arcade game machines and battery-powered, remote-controlled robots, cars, or planes. It was a daily sight, however, that outside their schools during a break, these children would gather around vendors selling plastic robots, cars, and planes, as well as marbles and trading cards.

 

In the rural areas, most kids were content playing with cars made out of banana trees, bamboos, or tins, or wayang figures cut out of cardboard paper. Today, with Playstation rentals opening even in small villages, simple, handmade toys are a rarity. But not in Pandes Hamlet, Panggungharjo Village, Sewon Subdistrict, Bantul, just south of Yogyakarta City.