Save Mutti, our Mother of Dragons

Yes, our goal is huge; so is the need & all sales from Hilde's heritage textiles will add to the total.

One of our oldest, closest friends is Arsiyanti (Yanti) Ardie, the daughter of Tony Agus Ardie, a founding father of modern Indonesia and prominent businessman.  We are friends who have joined with her husband to help her. 

Yanti's mother Hilde (known & loved by all as Mutti, German for Mama) rescued and raised all kinds of lost young ones her whole life, starting with 5 younger brothers during World War II. Now it's our turn to save her. By no fault of her own she is facing possible incarceration and seizure of her home & belongings in Indonesia. This fund helps Mutti (now 84, deaf, with Alzheimer's) stay in her home, pay legal costs to suspend action on criminal judgements against her and her other daughter, and prevent further ones.

For the last decade their father’s health declined rapidly after he lost many assets and dissolved the rest to help rebuild the ancient city of Yogyakarta and ensure livelihood of its people after a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Yanti and her sister assumed more of the functions of his one remaining business and took over running it completely upon his passing in 2013.

Throughout this time, the daughters discovered extensive embezzlement among top employees: business tax payments postponed but pocketed instead and credit taken out in Tony’s name were the most egregious. It was possible to restructure and refinance the company in order to start paying the taxes and preserve the benefits and pensions of the remaining employees. 

Unfortunately, it also came to light that taxes on their family home and parents’ income had also been re-directed for almost 20 years, including wealthy years prior to the Yogyakarta reconstruction. Notifications of these debts (perhaps purposefully) were sent to the wrong address, as these matters had also been handled by those former employees. Among the misdirected documents were three court summons for Mutti and her daughter; not knowing of them, they did not appear in court and therefore now have three criminal judgements against them each.

 As a result of these events, the family owes millions of dollars in business and tax debt, much of it to the Indonesian government. In many countries, the issues wouldn’t have come this far; business and tax debts are not usually inherited by individuals and even if so, the very worst case would be bankruptcies and suspended or at-home sentences for their elderly mother. However, because this is Indonesia, we are fearful for their lives. Mutti  is 84 years old, disabled and would not survive.  

At this point there is no legal way to emigrate Mutti out of the country; they are Indonesian citizens and directly responsible for Tony’s debts. Due to Hilde’s declining condition she’s unlikely to survive a huge move, especially under difficult conditions.  

Just being forced out the home she still knows and loves, due to its inevitable sale or seizure, will accelerate her decline and she may not live to see her 85th birthday this October.

The progression of Mutti’s disease has been remarkably slow because Yanti painstakingly planned her therapeutic care and daily living; her daughters invested all their resources towards a full and enriching life for her with home carers ensuring physical, social, and cognitive activities in safe and familiar environments.

Yanti & Kingsley, her husband, have already raffled or sold every last item of value they own and have gone into debt to keep Mutti secure & cared for.

Thank you so much for your help and support.

As said we're also raising money by selling Mutti's collection of priceless and rare Indonesian textiles, many of which are no longer being made:

https://m.facebook.com/pasarvintage/