Our arrival on the island of Sumatra marked a significant change in our surroundings. Instead of the spartan squalor of the coolie barracks, we were taken to occupy newly-built ordinary houses on an ordinary street.
If we were harbouring any hope that our situation was improving, we were soon disabused of it. Unlike the intended occupants – Dutch or Eurasian families – we were crammed into the small bungalows so that around twenty-five to thirty of us shared a space intended for a family of three or four. And the further bad news was that we were expected to remove any furniture and transport it on handcarts, which we had to drag down the road ourselves, to furnish the houses where our captors would be living in significantly more comfort. This included cooking stoves, where any were pres
