Translated…
“Kaviaz”, was the very first word in Bunon language that Li-Hwa taught me, it meant “friends”. Li-Hwa was a district client that the company had assigned me, anything relating to her insurance policy, I’m in charge of.
Of the over two-hundred clients whom I’d never even met personally, she’s the very FIRST client that asked me to change the beneficiary using LINE, reason because that the beneficiary is about to pass away. It was, really shocking and sad, the beneficiary was her husband, “he’s my second husband”, Li-Hwa told me, with no extra emotion on her face. Li-Hwa told me quietly, “I had a son and a daughter with my first husband, and, after he’d passed away, I’d married my husband now, and had my youngest daughter. They are both from the tribe.”
from the newspapers…
Li-Hwa told, that all three of her children are very close to each other, the youngest daughter is in nursing school, and I can see, that she is, very proud of her; the eldest is just in her early twenties, but because she’d fallen ill, she’s undergoing dialysis, her face looked darker than normal, totally not resembling the redder complexion that Li-Hwa has. Working as a caretaker, Li-Hwa found a job that’s less straining in her unit for her eldest, but the eldest’s health conditions aren’t stable, she’d often taken her into the E.R. When I’d asked her about her eldest’s condition, Li-Hwa patted her chest said, “I need to have faith in her, I’m very healthy, and, she will get better too!”, seemingly, optimistic and assured, actually, Li-Hwa suffers from arthritis, had a hard time going up and down the stairs, and can only take care of the members of the nursing home who are more mobile. Her son and daughter-in-law live close by, every time they’d come home to visit, they’d asked her what she wanted to eat? She’d always smiled and told them, “So long as we’re together as a family, it really doesn’t matter!”
After work, Li-Hwa would make the rounds to the herb garden out of habit, hoped that the plants grow up well, so she could sell them for some extra money, or, she’d, sorted through the bamboo shoots that her family mailed up to her and sell them. There were, a dozen of stray cats around her house, all kept by her daughter and her; she said, “Everything has a spirit, and God watches over each and every one”. Li-Hwa is an avid Christian, and although I’m Buddhist, but we can chat on our separate beliefs with ease, and found commonalities. Before her, I feel very comfortable, and every time we conversed, time always, flew by so quick; as I left, I’d loved learning a Bunon word from her, then, we’d, hug goodbye, and every time I hugged her sturdy shoulders, I’d felt, very warm inside.
This May, she’d had an artificial knee placement and was hospitalized, I’d gone to visit her at the hospital, she’d started getting the attention of the room, with her humorous words. In July, she was, hospitalized again, this time, it was, to replace her right knee, I worried about her, asked, “Isn’t it too soon? Can your body handle it?”, she’d used a special voice, “I’m only fifty, still quite young, what’s the big deal?”, last month, she’d started working her regular hours again, said it was for the sake of paying her insurance bills that she’d needed the money. A little while later, I’d asked her how she was doing, she’d replied in a short and swift way, “Sure!”
Yesterday, she’d passed along a photo of a purple lotus, she’d planted it. I think that Li-Hwa is like a flower, standing tall under the sun, very beautiful and inspiring to others. Kaviaz, my very first native friend, I wish you the best!
So, despite this woman’s predicaments in life, she’d still carried that more than positive attitude toward her own life, and that’s something we can all take from, keeping ourselves positive and life will take care of you.
Life, the Obstacle Course 