“We tell
ourselves stories in order to live.” A famous line by John Didion. But, what if,
the story that we are going to tell is too sad to mention to others and even a
single thought of it brings us unbearable sadness and heartbrokenness. Nevertheless,
I understand that sometimes the only way we can survive our own memories is to
acknowledge them and shape them into a story that makes sense out of events
that seem inexplicable and carry the story with us for the rest of our lives.
Perhaps with this thought in mind, the author started writing her Journey to
freedom even though the writing of this book would unavoidably reminded herself
of all things that happened in the past, be it good and bad, and the ways
people look at her family and her would never not be the same again. However,
in order to be completely free, the author chose to confront the truth of her
past. Just like what she mentioned in her book, “We all have our own deserts.
They may not be the same as my desert, but we all have to cross them to find a
purpose in life and be free.”
I must say that before reading this book, what I
knew about NK was very limited to what we could read from a mainstream
newspaper or what we could get from a video produced by unknown people in
youtube --- The crazy threats of nuclear destruction and its weird, scary
leaders with bad haircuts. All these were nothing as compared to the direct
personal experience shared by a person that had been born and grown up there. The story attracted me since the first chapter
and the story was brewing as it moved from chapter to chapter. Then, a small
climax slowly took its shape as the author and her mum was about to flee to CH.
Who know what would happen on them after crossing the frozen river for the
freedom that they had been yearning for. It was totally out of their expectations
what was actually going on the other side of boundary. Facing the threat of
being expatriated back to their motherland, they were manipulated by the local
gang members that had taken advantages of their vulnerabilities in the cross
border human trafficking. They went through all sorts difficulties that they encountered
anyway and managed to flee to Mongolia and finally to SK where they were given
citizenship and the life that they had been looking for. But, it was not the end of the story, the
integration to the local society remained a tough thing for the refugees and it
took time for them to integrate completely and be part of the society in spite
of the high similarity of the language and cultural background.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was
extremely lucky to be born in a country that starvation to death is totally unheard
of and having the opportunity to be educated to think freely and be myself. But
ironically, I have so far taken what I have today for granted. So happy to be
able to read a book that could allow me to think differently from other
perspective and to appreciate more the things that I am having today.
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