It took 93-year-old Wu Hsiu-mei (吳秀妹) a long time, but yesterday she lived her dream of being a flight attendant, albeit only for the day.
“I’m so lucky that I can still become a flight attendant at this age,” Wu said as she walked out of a mock airplane at the China Airlines training center in Taipei. “I’m so nervous,” she said, smiling.
Wu has not always been so fortunate.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Since her parents could not afford to raise her, she was sold to another family at the age of nine. At 19, Wu’s adoptive mother sold her to a small hotel to work as a servant and a prostitute.
In 1940, the Japanese colonial government forced her to go to Guangdong Province in China to serve as a “comfort woman” — or forced military prostitute. Wu said she often had to take more than 20 “clients” a day.
After the war she married twice, but her husbands did not treat her well after finding out about her past.
“Wu told us once that she dreamed of being a flight attendant, but thought that dream could only come true in her next life,” said Cynthia Kao (高小晴), executive director of the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, which helps former comfort women and came up with a project to help them fulfill their dreams earlier this year. “But we decided to make her dream come true in this life.”
Kao talked to China Airlines about the idea, and the airline was happy to oblige.
Before Wu started “work” yesterday, a flight attendant instructor put on makeup for her, while a flight attendant helped her change into a tailor-made uniform.
Last week, Wu received training as a flight attendant, instructor Joshua Tsai (蔡政達) said.
“She was a great student and learned fast,” Tsai said.
Wu then walked into the mock airplane used for training flight attendants and demonstrated how to use the seat belt and the life vest. She then served snacks and drinks to her passengers — a group of intern flight attendants and reporters.
At the end, Wu stood by the door and greeted each passenger as they left the “aircraft.”
“I wanted to become a flight attendant because they all seem to be so free and they can travel to so many places,” Wu said. “I feel 30 years younger now.”
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
RSS