She’s lived a thousand lives. Planted in Surabaya, her roots are dug deep everywhere. They can be found in Cambodia where she worked as a cook in a hostel and met her English husband who owned the homestay next door. Their love flourished and they had one son who is fifteen years old and now lives with the father in Zurich after they separated. More roots can be found in Borneo where she joined as the only woman on an orangutan experience, cooking up meals deep in the jungle. Back to Surabaya, she had another child, a girl aged eleven who she now crochets her favourite cartoon characters from Spongebob Squarepants for. She’s sent Squidward, Mr.Krabs and Patrick but holding onto Spongebob until they finally reunite. These roots end in Bali,  where she moved to start up a vegan and vegetarian kitchen and lived in Berawa, sharing her life with six rescue Bali dogs.  

 

At the time of her arrest, Carnation was working in Ubud as a cook on a retreat. During this time, one of her friends had asked her to hold onto some drugs as they went travelling. Word got out and the police were tipped off. The police came and stormed the retreat, arresting her and sending her to Kerobokan. Due to her being in possession of drugs but not having any in her system, she was charged as a drug dealer, the worst offence in Indonesian drug trafficking law. She was given a sentence of …. with another nine more years to go, unless she gets parole next year. During her time in Kerobokan, Carnation has only had one visitor, her former husband, who visited in 2022. The shame consumes her to the point that her son, who she calls every week at 7 a.m., doesn’t know she is in prison. He believes that she is still traveling around Borneo cooking in the jungle with the sounds of the tree's rustling and birds singing but the only sound that can be found where she really is are the shouts and chattering of her 250 inmates and the orders from the guards.