Translated…
At seven every morn, there would be Jun’s mother who’s slender and tall in build, taking her two daughters to school. One day, I’d stopped and struck up a conversation with her, learned that before she turned twenty, she’d married over from Indonesia, after marriage, she’d had two daughters, and, in a matter of just a few short years, her life went from being a teenager, to a married young woman.
The life of not being close to the ones you love is extremely lonely, the days dragged on, it is, very hard, on this young mother. Jun-Jun’s mother’s husband is over fifty years old, a little over twice her age, worked every day at the construction sites, early to rise, late to rest, plus the language barrier. They’d not shared but a word of exchange daily. Because her husband felt very insecure of how young his wife was, he’d kept a close eye on money, and would only hand the mother and daughter money for their meals each and every single day, and, every now and then, when Jun-Jun’s mother wanted to buy something nice for herself, she’d had to, save it up hard.
I’d asked, “Your child is very old, you must have already been naturalized, haven’t you?” Jun-Jun’s mother shook her head, “not yet, my husband wouldn’t send in the application on my behalf, he feared that I might leave him.” I’d continued inquiring, “Have you any regrets, marrying over here to Taiwan?”
She sighed, blinked her reddened eyes, “Sure, I do………I’d once called my mother back in Indonesia, that my life is so very hard, that I’d wanted to, fled, back to Indonesia, but my mother told me that I shouldn’t, that for the sake of my daughters, I must, carry through. But, this way of life is truly, very hard for me, my husband still kept himself shut off from me, if not for these two daughters of mine, I would’ve already been gone!” as a woman, I’d felt empathetic toward, Jun-Jun’s mother’s predicament, but, there was, nothing I can do, to change things at her home front, I can only, flash her a smile whenever we’d bumped into one another, and give her a hug.
On the day of the parent-teacher conferences, Jun-Jun’s mom would always show up in time in the classroom, she’d shown great care and concern for her daughter’s education. But because of the language barrier, she’d just, sat, shyly in the seats, listening to the other parents shared their thoughts, didn’t feel proper to chime in, or to inquire about anything they’re saying. After the homeroom teachers notices this, after the parent-teacher conference days, the instructors would spend some time with Jun-Jun’s mother. Both her daughters had a mild learning disability, and needed more care and concerns from the instructors and the parent too, gladly, in the patience teaching of the school teachers, they’re making progress.
All around us, there are, many stories of newly migrated individuals like Jun-Jun’s mother, who needed more cares and concerns shown to them; and I hope that these interracial marriages can be based of mutual trust and love for each other, that the couple can work hard, to make their families work. To NOT use a weird gaze, to look upon those who don’t speak the same language as we do, or those who are from a different cultural backgrounds, we must, truly welcome the newly migrated individuals, as well as their young in whole, so we can make sure, that those girls who’d married from afar can have a happy life here.
So, you DO see the discrimination here, don’t you? The woman had married over here, and had two daughters, but, because her husband was way too insecure about his own wife (it’s still called TRANSFERENCE by the way, y’all!!!), that, is why he’d kept her, on a tight leash, and, this woman can only allow her husband, to control everything that she did, and that, would be how awful life can be, for these newly migrated individuals here…
picture is from the newspapers…
Life, the Obstacle Course 