Finding a New Existence - Feon

HUI ZHAO
ESL 100
10/26/2009

Finding a New Existence

When you own nothing in the world, finding a new existence is the only way you must to do. In the middle of 19 century, there was a big flood and famine in my hometown Taishan. My grandparents told me that the water was so great; it flooded and destroyed the house where my grandparents lived. The rice paddies, the vegetables and the plants drowned. My grandparents owned nothing. So, my honorific uncle, the oldest one of his four brothers and sisters, decided to sell himself to Nauru for hard labor. Nauru is a phosphate rock island. The Chinese government allowed simple strip mining operations on the island when the phosphate company began mining there; they needed lots of Chinese labors. We cannot imagine how hard my uncle worked over there, but his leaving left my family with deep consequences.

The first consequence was losing my uncle. My grandparents said they couldn’t contact my uncle for three months after my uncle left for Nauru. They didn’t know if he was alive or not because Nauru was far away from my country. Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the Germany in the 19th century. It was very strange to them. It was said that Chinese laborers mined for the phosphate in Nauru as pigs. The phosphate company hired Chinese people for a cheap salary, but Chinese people worked very hard. In addition, China was a poor, closed country in the beginning of 19th century. They were not advanced in the technology or science. My grandparents waited for the postman in front of the door every day in order to get the news from my uncle. They cried and hoped my uncle would be safe in Nauru every minute.

The second consequence was that my uncle eventually made my family rich in the town. Fortunately, my grandparents got mail from my uncle about half year after my uncle left his hometown. They continued to cry because my uncle still was safe in another place and they could contact each other. In the letter, my uncle told my grandparents not to worry about him and he would send some money to them later. After two months, my grandparents got one hundred dollars from my uncle. It was a lot of money at that time in China. My grandparents were no longer hungry, and they could buy the food that they liked. Later, my uncle supported my grandparents to build a new house. They bought a TV which they had never seen before. As a result, my grandparents became rich because my uncle had been a laborer in Nauru.

The last and important consequence was his suffering marriage. My uncle was old enough to get married and my grandparents always expected him to marry. My uncle came back when he was twenty-eight years old. His wife was a young girl, and she looked nice. They got married, and my aunt lived with my grandparents after my uncle went back to Nauru. The only contact to them was the mail. There were just few letters from my uncle. My aunt lived in waiting because they had only spent a short time together. Nauru is an island in the south pacific. The only outside access to Nauru was going ships. The airline was not available at that time. For the reason, they couldn’t meet often. At the end of three years, my aunt moved away and they divorced. My uncle said he understood her situation as they lived separated between two countries. My uncle had no choice about his unpleasurable marriage. That was the result he went to Nauru as a labor after they got married.

When you find a new existence, it may good or it bad for you. For my uncle, he found a way to live and he gave us a lot. However, for himself, there was nothing for him besides suffering. After I grew up, my uncle came back and lived with us in his old age. When I saw his face each time, I could see the pain in his heart. As of today, my uncle already passed away, but we will never forget his giving, and we will remember the profound change his hard work brought to our lives.