Blood is thicker than water as reunion proves while religion and race is set aside.
I heard this a few months ago from a young foochow lady, a very young foochow lady, barely 16-years-old and charming as can be. She was looking bewildered and I asked her why.
SYT : i still can’t believe it. We received a call, many calls in fact from friends and relatives. It was in the papers. Someone was looking for us. Our family was bewildered. We had a family conference and decided to call the number listed in the paper.
After that everything happened so fast. It was a Malay lady. She wanted to meet us. We knew it had to be important so a few members of the clan traveled to Miri. Over there we got the whole story.
I still can’t believe it but it has to be true. There is no reason for it to be otherwiselah. What u think, Bengbeng?
My father was so emotional. He never knew he had this sister. She was given away at a very young age to a Malay family. The adults had little problem communicating as all communication is through the heart. It was a very happy moment. More for her than us I think because the family has always been together. She was the one left out. However she had had a good life with the Malay family and had been treated as their own.
After she reached her forties she wanted to find out more and that’s how it ended up like this. We have no regrets meeting her and we will never be parted again. We welcome her as if she has always been a part of us.
The funny thing, Bengbeng is she is so 100% Muslim and looks 100% Malay.
That last bit is interesting. We are all very much influenced by our environment and upbringing. This lady had never known she was adopted until many years later. The assimilation of religious values, cultural values happened spontaneously. The foster family had no issues with their daughter reuniting with their natural family. When asked about food differences etc, this so young lady who supposedly knows very little about life said, ” Aiya we know what to do to respect her beliefs. We will not put her in a difficult position and she will do the same. We are family.” How truly Malaysian that sounds.
That makes me wonder sometimes if we are over-rating the differences between the different communities. All communities have the capacity for tolerance and understanding. We are all human beings. Perhaps it is the politicians who make our lives more complicated. Let us concentrate a little more on our similarities and less on our differences. It may sound very naive, but we all have to start doing this sooner or later.
Relevant read which inspired this article: Abandoned youth gets help
have trouble understanding la
BB: Basically after reading the story of abandoned youth in paper( link provided on post )i remembered this conversation i had. They gave away a baby girl when she was small due to problems. Now almost 40 years later there is a reunion. She is from a Malay family while her original family is sibu foochow. hope this makes it clearer
in the reunion race and religion did not matter, their blood ties are all important
during my mom’s wake… i have to struggle between my desire to honour my mother and the need to stick to my faith. at the same time, i tried not to infuriate my bro who is very close to my mom. he will be furious if i ignore some ‘rules’. but i am glad i chose to honour my mom and my pastor understood it all.
no matter what, at the end of the day, it’s the heart that matters. your new aunt may be brought up in a different world, but i am sure the bond will always be there, because you are all a family.
BB: I was talking in a 3rd person perspective. I am not related to the family but I know the family well.
About the present circumstances that you are in, I can empathize and understand the situation you are in. Stick it out. Soon, the pain for the family will not lessen but the body and mind will slowly find a new equilibrium. About pastor and faith issue, I been there before. I know wat u r talking abt. Get comfort from the printed word. Your bro&sis in your faith will provide much comfort in yr present circumstances. U will b surprised how much capacity for caring and love an individual has for others especially when faith comes into the picture.
i’m like clement, still blurr blurr la! hahahaha!
BB: It’s like this. A foochow family gave away a child due to poverty 40 yrs ago. last year the girl now a middle-aged woman started looking for her roots and went to the press. She managed to find her natural family with the help of a few scanty details preserved from the past. She is a Muslim and a Malay now. Her original birth family is Chinese Foochow.
Aiyo..I don’t know how to make it clearer. But it was a very happy reunion.
actually foochaw ppl always think that blood is thicker than water. they treat their own family very very nice and also their own foochaw ppl. even you don’t know each other but if you tell them that you are foochow too they sure will treat you better then other as you are one of their family too…
BB: U r so right
. I jus realized it after reading yr comment.
oh, okay, got it. haha, my aunt also same problem, she acknowledge her chinese past, plus she’s very rich now, being malay or chinese doesn’t really matter. haha. plus her son is taib’s son in law… ya, foochow are really good in this, my uncle lau, a big tauke in sibu, is firing my other uncle after running away with a few millions of dollars, but now the runaway uncle, is still in monetary trouble. the rich one forgave him and helps him with money. tats better than any story in bible!
BB: wow!