Log #7

Yeonmi and her mother

        Sometimes we pursue going somewhere or achieving something because the places or things are so wonderful in our imagination. However, we will eventually find out that they are not at all. What we have imagined is far from what we go through.

Yeonmi bore the mind of escaping from North Korea to China. She finally realized her dream and persuaded her mother to leave without her father. Everything she had been told since she left North Korea had been a lie. Yeonmi and her mother were sold to China by human trafficking. They deeply believed that they can leave the awful country, North Korea, without all the terrible conditions. They would pick up Yeonmi’s father after they settled down in China. Unfortunately, she and her mother were sold separately for different families. What’s worse, they were raped by the broker on the way to China, even though Yeonmi was only thirteen years old.

When Yeonmi’s mother was going to be taken away, her mother said something to her. “Be a good girl. Clean the house every day and cook for these people so they can see the value of keeping you here.” Although there were only few words, I could see the motherhood in Yeonmi’s mother’s heart. Her mother wanted her to grow up well and also told her the principle of behave. It was so touching that I could imagine the scene of saying goodbye.

There are also some sentences that I really like. “If the Chinese government would end its heartless policy of sending refugees back to North Korea, then the brokers would lose all their power to exploit and enslave these women. But of course if North Korea wasn’t such a hell on earth, there wouldn’t be a need for the women to flee in the first place.” I think it was the reasons why Yeonmi wanted to escape.