The Ogawa girl

My back was aching and she smiled brightly pointing me to their latest model of the massage armchair. Eh, .. why not? My body needs some pampering. She was chatty and wanted to make sure i was enjoying the full range of the different variety of massages the chair has to offer.

She started to converse in halting Cantonese when i told her ‘wor pu chiang wah yi’ (i no speak mandarin). Most young people in Puchong ( i have noticed) tend to be more conversant in mandarin. Her Cantonese was probably as good as mine (half baked?),

but she was trying.

She confided she just only started to speak Cantonese. But what she lack in language she made up with enthusiasm and a friendly unassuming disposition, unlike some who insist your life is not complete without ‘their’ massage chair.

Originally from Johore and fresh out from SPM (O levels) at 19 yrs old, she ventured out to KL to see if she could enroll at a multimedia university. But, unable to afford the fees, she is now staying at a hostel and perhaps (?) trying to sell enough massage chairs to fund her college.

Why not go work in Singapore? I asked.

“Se mua gong ying mun “ (everyone there speaks English, and she is afraid), she answers.

Not really true.

But i felt a real anger rising (disgust?) at the people who run our education system, flip flopping on the need to get up to speed in English language, and over the years have ruined generations of young Malaysians. Here is a young girl, a product of our national school system and after 11 years of schooling, she can barely converse in English, and her future seems so much more limited because of it.

“How is it your parents would allow you to do that” i asked, referring to her being so far from home and living in a hostel by herself. Just to work as a Ogawa sales girl? (am i missing something here, I would be rather uncomfortable with that if i had a 19 yr old daughter.)

I only have mother and (a) younger brother (11yrs), she says in Cantonese.

... and your father ?

She looks past me, brushed her hair off her face and puts on a smile. “My father don’t want us anymore , so we live our lives without him; (so) we also don’t need him. My mother is waitressing.”

I took a deeper look at her again.

Behind that bright smile are untold challenges that faced her young years.

Life .. unfair? Maybe so, but i wanted to even the odds a bit for her. I wanted to tell her there is a God who cares for her.

“lei yeow thang .. Jeh-Soh goi leh ” ( Have you heard that God loves you?)

Pause.

Oh .. leh hei Christian? She quips.

I smiled and nodded.

I wanted to tell her that God has declared, He is Father to the fatherless, and a Husband to the widows.

Jeh soh oi lei (Jesus loves you)

She nodded.

Silence.

She points out a young man to me. “He is my boss, so young and already a boss. I also want to be a boss one day.” The she giggles,”hoh lang chai hor?” (handsome no?). But she was not interested in handsome guys.. they tend to have too many opportunities with the girls and therefore cannot be trusted.

We both laughed.

(sometimes I think not having daughters will save me some heartaches a father will inadvertently share.)

I finished the timed session on the chair. She invites me to come again and tells me her name.

Sounded something like .. . “mein lein”

I repeated, trying to sound out the meaning.

“..beautiful” she smiles, it means beautiful one” , she says it in English.

Yeah, and she was, but more so her determined spirit to press forward with her life.

(as i laid in my bed and looked out into the night sky, I remembered her again and wondered about the world of hurting people, all around us walking with brave smiles; there is a “balm” that brings forth healing to those who are willing to come. It brings wholeness and healing.

Most of all, it is free.

I hope you will encounter this Balm.. ‘beautiful one'...)