We lost our photographer, Jefri Aries, last week. These are the things left unsaid about him.
8 Mei 2017 12:00
Jefri is one of the most hardworking people I know. He works hard not because of money or work pressure, he simply loves the job. With him, the job doesnt look like work anymore.
I have no idea what time he goes to sleep or wakes up every day. All I know that he always wakes me up at 7 with his texts saying that hes on the way to some random place to cover some random thing I didnt even know exists. All I know that by the time I finally start working, hes in his second coverage, almost 100 km away from his initial coverage place.
One second hes running beside a gubernatorial hopeful, the next second hes climbing the fences to take pictures of raging crowd in an FPI rally.
Its hard to keep track of Jefri. And we love him for that.
Jefri is one of the most positive people I know. When things are not good, he somehow always provides a different point of view. When I get frustrated over small (or big) stuff, he says that it will be okay because good things take time to happen. And with a big smile and some fresh fruit he always orders, he assures me that maybe everything will be okay that everything were doing will be worth it.
Jefri is one of the best storytellers I know. Writing narratives might not be his forte, but boy has he great stories to tell. He was chased away by violent residents of Puncak with machetes after his undercover was blown. His story to uncover the paid-marriage practices might never see the light, but I bet he gets rounds of applause every time he tells the story.
He was there when the crowd tried to topple Suharto. He was there when FPI rally turned into chaos. He was there and he was not afraid to do what he had to do. And we love him for that.
There are many things I can tell you about Jefri, despite knowing him only for several months. I can tell you how much he loves his wife and kids because he loves to show me pictures of them.
Ini bojoku, he would say proudly during lunch time.
I can tell you how friendly he is because he befriended some strangers just after spending 15 minutes eating with and talking to them at his office behind the Hotel Indonesia Police Station. I can tell how his behavior is fascinating because people always laugh in awe every time I tell them what crazy things Jefri did that day.
There are many things I can tell you about Jefri, but Im sure everyone that knows him has their own stories about him too and reasons to love him.
Its heartbreaking to realize that we would never have the chance to say how much we love him in person anymore.
But whats more heartbreaking for me is reading this note all over again and realizing that all the present tenses shouldve been in past tenses, that is shouldve been changed into was because hes no longer here.
I couldnt make myself go to his send away or even call his family to express my condolences when he passed away. They say funerals are for the living, to give them chance to say goodbye, but I wasnt ready to say goodbye. Im still not.
But then again, if hes still here, Jefri wouldve said to let go, that there are things beyond our control and that everything happens for a reason, and sooner of later well get whats written for us.
So heres my (our) good bye to Jefri. May he always lives in our heart. May his passion and positivity teaches us how to be a better person. May his legacy lives on.
Rest in peace, Mas Jef. You will be missed.
