Immigrants's life is hard

Recently I was surprised to receive a letter from a friend of mine who emigrated to Brazil 36 years ago. Her whole family went to the same church as I did. When they announced their intention to emigrate, fellow members of their congregation could not help but wonder at the wisdom of such a move. The Brazilian economy at that time was in a shambles.

With three school age children in a country where unfamiliar Portuguese is spoken, life must have been daunting to begin with.

In her letter, written in Dutch, my friend told us that her husband started a chicken farm far from the city. Her two daughters married Brazilians and her son is still single.

Winter temperatures of around 10 degrees Celsius they find cold. The cold weather may have contributed to the severe rheumatism which afflicted my friend 30 years ago. She had to have her kneecaps replaced with artificial ones to allow her to walk normally. She also began to suffer chronic back pains making it necessary for her to lie down for a few hours every day.

Fortunately her grown son can do the farm work because her husband has reached retirement age. As time went on and her back pains persisted unrelieved, the family stopped consulting the local doctor because his fees were expensive. Now my friend takes medicine whenever the pain recurs and places her life and destiny in God's hands.

Rheumatism has also affected her fingers and she had to type the letter she sent us.

Life is not easy for an immigrant in a strange country. Meanwhile life goes on.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta