Translated…
Sally came to the Yao’s house in 2008, as a nurse’s aide, and worked for six years. Six years, it’s also the period of time when my parents showed the greatest amount of deterioration. Sally used her small-framed body, and carried the burdens that the four children of the Yao’s household couldn’t, in the three-story residence, she’d busied herself around and about, held up my father who’s nearly a hundred kilograms, and my mother, who’s strict, and difficult in nature, passed through the final years of their lives by their sides.
Sally was from a small village in the southern part of Indonesia, she came to work for the Yao’s when she was thirty-three years-old, and as she left us, she was, almost, forty years old. As my mother was still alive, she’d often compared me, who’s around Sally’s age, said that at the age of thirty-something, she is already a mother of a child, that after she’d earned the wages, she’d, wired it over back home, and I couldn’t even manage to put up some money, to give to my parents.
not my photo…
As my mother was ranting on, Sally, who’d gotten to known how the relationship between my mother and I was, was secretly smirking about it, and that smirk, was the most emotional expression she’d ever shown. Don’t know if it’s her nature, or that she’d been trained, to take on any hardships, working as a household maid, Sally would always wear a slight smile, along with when she’s over worked, she’d start frowning a bit, there’s not much of the emotional expressions with her. She’d rarely spoke to us about herself; actually, in the years she’s worked for the Yao’s, as she has her days off, she’d rarely gone out to hang out with her friends, or gone anywhere really. Sally’s room was very simple and crude, there was a period of time when my father would have difficulties breathing, and, she’d moved a folding bed to sleep next to him, hoping that she could be there to take care of him. And, although there’s the set number of hours she should be working, but, it seemed, that working, is her only way of life.
And still, how does, a small-framed woman, have so much power and durability, that she could, for the sake of giving her own family a better life, flown abroad, to work by herself all alone? Especially, taking care of the elderly, is the most strenuous kind of work. Once, Sally went shopping for groceries, because my mother who’s bedridden from her stroke, disregarded her words, forced herself to get up to the kitchens to get something, she’d lost her balance, and, fell backwards, and the back of her head hit the sink, and, it wasn’t until Sally came home, did she found “grandma”, lying in a pool of blood. Back then, there was only my father, who’s mildly demented at home, started making unknown noises on the couch, had it not been my uncle who’d made an unannounced visit by ringing the doorbell, Sally wouldn’t have known what to do. And, even though afterwards, my older siblings consoled with Sally, to not take it personally, but that time still stayed with her, and ever since, she’d become, even more attentive toward “Grandpa’s” and “Grandma’s” safety concerns.
My mother died of cancer back in 2012, Sally was broken down, she’d not shed any less tears than we had. From her normally silent face came, this extreme sorrow. At that moment, I saw, how much this foreign woman had, given to our family in her emotions and her actions too. During that time, other than helping out with my mother’s final affairs, the tasks of caring for my father became even more strenuous, but, toward my father, who’d just, lost his dearly beloved wife, she could always tap my father gently on his shoulders, to give him consoles. A year later, my father passed away in his sleep, at the age of ninety-four, Sally, being the first to discover it. We’d always felt, that in the final years of our parents’ lives, Sally was with them, they were, very blessed to have her looking after them. And my older siblings kept Sally’s giving to our family to heart too, and, as she’d needed to, transfer to look after another family, they’d kept up in touch with her, and, as we have our family gatherings, she would be, involved too.
I’d not carried on in conversation with Sally enough, but once I’d asked her, if she missed home/? She’d smiled lightly, “of course I do, but the money I’d sent back to my husband for him to open up his shop, was all squandered away by him already.” Sally didn’t keep going, and I, didn’t ask, she’d gotten up, to take the bowls and plates to the kitchens, and her backside made my heart break.
You see, how much this woman had, given to the family she’s looking after, and, she’d come from abroad, with a family abroad, because her husband squanders the money away, she’s just going to have to, keep on, working hard, to provide for her family members back home.