‘Bida un tempo na Boegoeroei’: The Memoirs of Vivienne Frank Sr.
ORANJESTAD – The well-known author has released an engaging new publication titled ‘Bida un tempo na Boegoeroei’ ('Life Back Then in Boegoeroei'), subtitled ‘Recuerdonan di un Era Perdi’ ('Memories of a Lost Era').
Mr. Frank Sr. is also the author of the renowned book ‘Aruba en een keuze uit haar toponiemen’ ('Aruba and a Selection of Its Toponyms'), a guide explaining the origins of nearly 300 place names across Aruba.
This book contains the personal memoirs of Vivienne Frank Sr., former director of the Land Registry and Geographic Information Department (DLV). It chronicles his youth from the early 1930s in Boegoeroei up until 1945, when his family relocated to Playa following the end of World War II.
It is an impressive collection of everyday stories from life in Boegoeroei back when the neighborhood consisted mainly of vast coconut groves and scattered single-family homes. As the subtitle suggests, it reflects on an era that will never truly return. As the famous African proverb goes, 'When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.' The main purpose of this work is to offer at least an echo of what life in Boegoeroei—and Aruba in general—looked like nearly a century ago.
How was the Boegoeroei community organized back then? If you fell ill in an era without doctors or antibiotics, who saved you and how? What was religious life like? How was Christmas celebrated? What was your relationship with the local church and priest in a predominantly Catholic community if you belonged to a Protestant denomination? What happened during a funeral? What did attending school mean in those days? What were the World War II years like? How did people secure their food? How were families interconnected? Do you know what 'Kalmeki' is? Do you know what it was like to go hunting? What lies behind the sinister events in the countryside of Mata Cuater? What was life like for a Boy Scout back then? What did the grueling work with aloe entail, how was fishing interwoven with daily life, and what did Queen's Day celebrations mean in Boegoeroei?
These and many other questions are explored in the personal reflections of Mr. Vivienne Frank Sr. 'Bida un tempo na Boegoeroei' is a true eye-opener for younger generations about life in an era without Wi-Fi, the internet, or WhatsApp—a time when 'social media' was simply the news neighbors whispered to each other before bedtime. A time of turning in with the chickens and waking up with the roosters. An era that will never return.