Comfort Women
On the visit with Professor of Shanghai Normal University, we uncovered a wealth of knowledge, and discovered and experienced emotions that we didn't know we had. We also met people with whom we shared knowledge and broke bread, and took away with us a new understanding of what happened in history. On the whole, this tour has not only better informed us as teachers, but has also afforded us, as human beings, a deeper insight into the nature of man.
We have been moved by the things we saw and the stories we heard, and we were filled with an admiration for the courage of the victims, because every time they tell their stories, they are reliving the trauma, the horror, their shame and their guilt, all over again.
What was inspiring, too, were the people who are devoting a great part of their lives in helping these victims, in the hope of bringing some justice and closures to their silent guilty suffering for the last seventy years.
One such person is Professor Su (another is Lawyer Madam Kang Jian, whom we would later meet in Beijing), with whom I had the rare opportunity of a few minutes of private chat while we were waiting together for the bus to take us to lunch.
Professor Su, with the assistance of his wife and graduate students, is devoting a large portion of his time and money in trying to alleviate the pains of the survivors of the Japanese sex slavery. One of Professor Su's dreams is to acquire the property in the picture in my previous post and preserve it as a museum in memory of the thousands of women who were forced into sex-slavery by the Japanese military machine. This property is the only still standing and in good condition structure that was taken over by force from Chinese private owners by the Japanese and turned into a Comfort Station.
Professor Su's dream is a noble one, but to realize it will take a lot of effort and money. He cannot do this all by himself; he needs the support --- morally and financially --- of concerned global citizens. Citizens who care enough to say "I will help."
I have been so inspired by Professor Su's noble task, and I would like to be one of those who would say: "I care ... and I will help."
We have been moved by the things we saw and the stories we heard, and we were filled with an admiration for the courage of the victims, because every time they tell their stories, they are reliving the trauma, the horror, their shame and their guilt, all over again.
What was inspiring, too, were the people who are devoting a great part of their lives in helping these victims, in the hope of bringing some justice and closures to their silent guilty suffering for the last seventy years.
One such person is Professor Su (another is Lawyer Madam Kang Jian, whom we would later meet in Beijing), with whom I had the rare opportunity of a few minutes of private chat while we were waiting together for the bus to take us to lunch.
Professor Su, with the assistance of his wife and graduate students, is devoting a large portion of his time and money in trying to alleviate the pains of the survivors of the Japanese sex slavery. One of Professor Su's dreams is to acquire the property in the picture in my previous post and preserve it as a museum in memory of the thousands of women who were forced into sex-slavery by the Japanese military machine. This property is the only still standing and in good condition structure that was taken over by force from Chinese private owners by the Japanese and turned into a Comfort Station.
Professor Su's dream is a noble one, but to realize it will take a lot of effort and money. He cannot do this all by himself; he needs the support --- morally and financially --- of concerned global citizens. Citizens who care enough to say "I will help."
I have been so inspired by Professor Su's noble task, and I would like to be one of those who would say: "I care ... and I will help."
posted by Yse at 9:12 PM
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