移民心声 MIGRANT'S VOICES
The “Migrant's Voices” column is designed for migrants to share their thoughts, feelings and life experience with our readers, regardless of your age, gender and background. Kindly write an article of no more than 400 words and email to editor@chungwah.org.au. 不管男女老少、新老移民，新增设的《移民心声》栏目旨在给你一个版块抒发异乡情怀。分 享你生活在珀斯的喜怒哀乐、甜酸苦辣，述说你所关注的时事焦点和身边的人、事、物。请 将文章邮寄到editor@chungwah.org.au。
My take on the “Migration” experience 文◎袁树仁Shuren Yuan 译◎冯恺盈Helene Fung
“Migration” is a very controversial term. My viewpoint is: You can choose to live wherever you feel more comfortable and makes you happier. So it all depends on your own qualities and what environment you prefer. As for me – after I retired, I actually didn’t even have the thought or the motivation to migrate; but why did I come to Australia? The key is that my way of doing things is “going with the flow”. After China’s economic reform and opening-up policy, my children came over to study, and they ended up staying here. After several visits, my partner and I decided to follow our children’s suggestion to migrate to Perth. In 1996, I drummed up enough courage to apply directly with the Australian Embassy and the application was approved shortly thereafter. The migration experience has actually inspired a lot of ideas. Here I’m going to share some of my ideas on “personal health”. “Using your brain” is actually the best way for healthy living and it’s an important aspect. Because of migration, I was forced to “use my brain”. 1. Forcing myself to learn English faster to handle life in a western country
old, there’s wear-and-tear and rust, can you restore it? Humans are exactly the same; as we grow older, we shouldn’t be aspiring just for health and longevity – instead we should aspire for happiness. When you are happy and have the correct attitude, naturally you’ll live longer. Your body’s ability to heal can also be strengthened this way!
我对移民的体会 “移民”是一个甚具争议性的词。有人 说：国内好好的，为什么要移民。也有人说： 移民好，国外的环境好些。 其实任何表态都是有立场的，就是站在 自己的角度，代表个人的体会。 我的观点：你觉得住在哪个地方舒适、快 乐，就选择在那定居，取决于自身的条件和向 往的环境。 我！退休以后并没有移民的想法和动机。 但是为什么又来到澳洲了呢？ 关键在于我的处事之道偏向“顺其自然”。 改革开放以后子女为了升学来到了国外， 就此留下定居了。孩子的妈妈多次往返澳洲， 经过多次商讨我和老伴，最后决定采纳子女 的建议移居到珀斯。1996年，我鼓起勇气直接 向澳洲领事馆领表申请，很短的时间内就批下 来了。 移民的体会其实很多。这里我就说对“个 人健康”的体会。 “动脑子”是养生最好的办 法之一，而且是重要的一环。 因为移民而逼迫自己“动脑子”
2. Forcing myself to learn to use a computer
1. 鞭策我自己加速学习英文来应对西方国家 的生活
3. Forcing myself to find a hobby and ways to kill time
2. 学习用电脑来让自己的生活更加方便。
Living in Perth, other than getting together with my children, I didn’t have any friends or family. I’ve chosen to spend my time on “volunteering” and “photography”. “Volunteering” gives my daily life a regular routine, allows me to maintain contact with the society and ensures that I get enough exercise. Through “photography”, I’ve made friends, and through sharing photos, these friends have given me a lot of encouragement, which gives me joy and pride. I think life can be thought of as being like a tree or a machine. If a tree grows old and its shape is already formed, can you change it? If a machine is
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3. 要找一个嗜好和消磨时间的办法 来到这里，除了和子女可以团聚外， 没有亲友，我选择了“做义工”和“玩照 相机”。“做义工”促使我的日常生活有规 律，与社会保持接触，每天保持足够的运动 量。“玩照相机”让我结识了更多的朋友，通 过分享照片，朋友们给了我很大的鼓励，激发 了我喜悦的心情和自豪感。 我觉得人生可以以一棵树或者一个机器 来比喻。树老了成型了，你还能改变它吗？机 器老了磨损了锈蚀了，你还能还原它吗？人也 一样，年龄大了老了，不是直接追求健康长寿 而是追求快乐。心态好，心情好自然延年益 寿。因为这样增强了人们的自愈能力！
My Australia story 文◎Laddawan WONG 译◎Elvie Yap 叶俐廷
40 years ago, I would not have thought my life would ever end up in Australia. I was an exchange student through the American Field Service program, living in Michigan, USA from 1974-1975. So naturally my dream was to return to America and find a career and live my life there. Well, I finished my Bachelor of Arts at a prestigious uni in Bangkok and spent two years working for Kuwait Airlines, so I could save enough money to go to America to further my studies. I did return to America as planned completing my postgraduate education. I had a job right after graduation but plans got interrupted by my return to Singapore with my husband in 1987. My work visa was cancelled and I ended up living in Singapore, building a young family there. In 1989, my first son was born and later we soon found out he had a slight developmental delay which affected all facets of his life. That was the starting point for us to look around to find a nurturing environment for him to grow up in. When my son was six and a half years old, we had an opportunity to spend four years as an expatriate family in Bangkok. We have two other children in mainstream education. Our children went to a British international school that was very childfocused. Thus my “special” son enjoyed his early childhood there. Then in 2004, we decided to plan to go to Australia for all three kids’ high school education. We picked Perth because it is quite near to our home country. So for the first time, we came to Perth in 2007 after about ten years of living a nomad‘s life. I remember spending a year in preparing the kids for the new life here. We no longer had a maid, gardener and driver, which we used to have in our expat life. The first year was the most difficult for all of us to adjust. Being a new migrant at fifty years old was pretty hard as all of us had to find our way to integrate into a new country. My “special” son went to two different catholic schools where there was a special needs support unit. He learnt to adapt quite well in the new environment and made many friends along the way. Later I took him to participate in the volunteer program of Chung Wah Community and Aged Care where he paid regular visits to elders in nursing homes. He also played the piano for them and joined in activities during special Chinese festivals. My “special” son is very sociable and is wellliked by many people for his kindness and good manners. Perth has become his home where he
