She, Who Floated Over from the Seas

Translated…

It was three-thirty in the morning, there was, a dough, ready, on the work counter, that was, getting worked, by a pair of strong hands, kneaded, into smaller squares, waiting, to be placed, in the steaming basket, to become buns.

The bean grinder next to it was working too, the soybeans got crushed that they no longer looked like beans anymore, and, scoop, by scoop, poured, into the soy milk bags.  The scent was slowly, filling up the air, the female shop owner stirred to a rhythm, fearing, that if she didn’t keep a close eye, it would get burned, and, she would have a difficult day at work.

As the day slowly came in, a breakfast shop is getting ready to open for business, Pearl (a false name), is the shop manager, also, the only employee too, she’d married over from Indonesia, for almost thirteen years now.  At six in the morn, Pearl took the kneading stick to the second floor, banged on the doors of her children.  Her kids go to an elementary school nearby, every morning, the first thing they do when they wake is to fix up the breakfast items, pour the soy milk into the cups, then, go off to school.  At around ten in the morn, the shop was cleaned up, Pearl would head upstairs, to help her father-in-law who’d had a stroke many years ago change his diapers, and, scoop the soy milk she didn’t sell, into her father-in-law who’s now, immobilized.

At noon, she quickly fixed the lunches, packed two for her kids, and delivered to the school, then, she’d hurry off into the rice paddies, to dig up oysters to sell, until right before supper when she’d gone to pick up her kids, that, would be the end of her workday, then, it happens, all over again, tomorrow.

You must be curious, where, is Pearl’s husband, right?  Her husband would often gamble and get drunk, and won’t come home until the wee hours of the night, after he’d gotten money to spend for the next day from her, in the morning, he’d, disappeared again, and this, is not at all, that weird, in the town where Pearl lives.  The population is aging even faster in the middle and southern strips, hiring a foreign helper would cost $20,000 to $30,000N.T.’s a month, but, getting a foreign bride, not only would she be able to help take care of the elders, she could also make money, and, the men just needed to pay a little over $100,000N.T. total, it’s much cheaper that way.  And, because of this, there are, more foreign populations in the middle and southern strips of the island.

I’d met Pearl, because I’d joined in the group, advocating the education in the distant regions, through the local pastor’s sharing with us, that, was when we’d gotten to know the families’ conditions.  These migrated mothers are normally hardworking, other than working hard, to assimilate themselves into the community, they’d wanted to help out their separate families back home too.  Pearl, being one of them, like most of the migrated population, she’d had the regret of not being able to read in Chinese, and, the children’s assignment books, the signature column, their kids signed for.  And so, when she’d heard, that the local church had Chinese school, Pearl immediately signed up, hoped, that through the two nights per week sessions, she could read what’s on her children’s assignment books.

On the eve of Mother’s Day, the church invited the immigrant mothers to join the festivities, and, one of the activities was for their own children, to teach them Chinese using a chalkboard, when her kids wrote, “I love you” on the board, Pearl started crying.  It’s no longer important if the tears came from being able to read, or because of love, the important thing is, how happy Pearl was feeling in the moment’s time.

All of these women from Southeast Asia, they’re using their grass-root persistence, to work hard, in Taiwan, they’d floated over the seas, and set their roots down here, adding more colors, to the life in Taiwan.

And so, it is hard, being a foreign person, in any country, and, this woman floated across the oceans, to help take care of her ailing father-in-law, and, without a husband to support her, she still made her life matter, and, these, are very STRONG women!