Edith was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. Her maternal grandma was with them and she had a bound feet which Edith only saw from the exterior. She walked with a stick which made “Dong! Dong! Dong!” sound on the wooden floor boards. I was a little runner at home to get medicine for her. Sadly without knowing, I visited her at her hospital bed where I normally would be stopped at the hospital doorway. On that particular day I was allowed to enter. She passed away soon after before I turned five. 
Edith was born in Taiwan with mainlander parents. Language wise, I was with Taiwanese speakers who did domestic services at home. My mother spoke her dialect with our domestic head who cooked for us and with her relatives which was a language I used to understand but not now. In addition, my father was educated in Japanese and lived in Taiwan in his younger days, so he was fluent in both Taiwanese and Japanese. Taiwan was a Japanese colony during 1895 – 1945 and my upbringing had some Japanese influences though not in language. Nowadays, one may observe Japan “taste” in many areas in Taiwan.
Edith was born in Taiwan with mainlander parents. Language wise, I was with Taiwanese speakers who did domestic services at home. My mother spoke her dialect with our domestic head who cooked for us and with her relatives which was a language I used to understand but not now. In addition, my father was educated in Japanese and lived in Taiwan in his younger days, so he was fluent in both Taiwanese and Japanese. Taiwan was a Japanese colony during 1895 – 1945 and my upbringing had some Japanese influences though not in language. Nowadays, one may observe Japan “taste” in many areas in Taiwan.
Her mother had the fortune not to do anything domestically and financially. From her, I had always wanted myself to be self-sufficient and self-resilient. Interestingly, she always emphasized how important it was that her children must all be educated and I believe I have done so. My education and my willingness to work had helped me to gain my financial independence since I was 20. I retired early but was able to make my following focus in community. Edith the young girl.
My Rotary journey began in 2012 with Peter Cribb and the Flemington Chinese aged community. Rotary helped us with several events and activities including a community project named “Back In The Fold” where we made an overnight trip to Kyneton.
Edith also had a book published about Chinese in Flemington. She is currently writing a story about her father and the injustice he suffered in Taiwan which has taken 50 years to resolve.
Edith also had a book published about Chinese in Flemington. She is currently writing a story about her father and the injustice he suffered in Taiwan which has taken 50 years to resolve.
Rotary covers so many areas and there is always something I would find interest in. I like its active connection within the community. I find its sharing in justice and peace interesting - these qualities are not to be taken for granted as it could be weakened so easily, and I hope to be alert enough to defend such values.
The structure, people, activities are so proficient and efficient and it has so many meaningful moments in my journey with the Club. I think of the meaningfulness of the Op Shop which I actively helped to revamp in 2020 and 2021. How the time was right to clean up the place, put a fresh coat of paint, reorganise the goods in the shop and it was fantastic to work in the team of few. The Op Shop has the principle of using the Op Shop income to help the community. What more rewarding would be scheduling regular maintenance and continually “updating” and “reorganising” the Shop.
In her spare time, Edith likes to listen to music, think, write, read and cycling. Although I don’t know opera’s languages, which frequently is sung in foreign languages such as German, Italian and French of a composition written few centuries ago, I still like them.
She is often to be seen walking and cycle about. During the hot summer period, the family used to stroll over to the nearby park after family dinner while I was small and I learned cycling during that time. These exercises become my way of maintaining my health nowadays.
Hope the society is with lower discrimination when one can be more informed, educated and more open to share and discuss. Because openness helps transparency, helps improvement on what is required so to maintain a peaceful and safe society and not with violence and drugs. For making the world better, I hope to hear more people’s stories of not just receiving the information but reflect on what is like while wearing other’s shoes. While sharing my story with people I would hope to generate meaningful discussions and foster better and deeper understanding.
Visiting Austria was memorable to me: The place with great beauty, culture, order, history, desserts, and so many learning opportunities. However, I came across with visitors from other countries who would make their standard holiday at the same holiday place and holiday time there. I thought the easiness and openness in my stay in Australia and understood my good fortune of being here and wished to learn more about the history here.
I have done several information workshops would highly recommend with game play, forum-discussion, displays and interaction with exhibitors. However, managing two-language can be a confusing act, let alone if more languages are involved.
My dream is for this multicultural society to use single language and celebrations in two-language.
These days, I became more clear about I DO What I CAN and WILLING DO.