Nightmare in America 美國的噩夢

I went to a funeral last Saturday. Friend’s wife passed away at a young age of 53, left behind husband, 20 & 16 old sons.

It is not very unusual on the surface if you stop reading here. But if you know the family, you know why the wife died bitterly.

The family used to have good jobs, high paying jobs with maids in Hong Kong. Wife’s mother pressure the daughter to come to America said this was heaven.

Family came 15 years ago, but neither have advanced degrees and fluent in English. It took months for the husband to find a minimum wage janitor job, a huge downgrade from a managerial job in Hong Kong. With little money, they rented a basement with less than 300 SF, no window and poor ventilation. A terrible living condition compared to their 1,000+ square feet apartment with maid’s quarter in Hong Kong.

Under huge financial stress and poor living conditions, younger son developed medical problems till today requiring special education.

During the final days of the cancer treatments, wife was crying everyday said her life got ruin the day she came to America. Her mother felt so ashamed that she did not come to the funeral service.

上週六我去參加了一個葬禮。朋友的妻子在 53 歲時去世，留下了丈夫、20 和 16 歲的兒子。

如果你在這裡停止閱讀，表面上並不少見。但如果你了解這個家庭，你就會知道為什麼妻子會痛苦地死去。

這個家庭曾經在香港有很好的工作，有女傭的高薪工作。妻子的母親強迫女兒來美國，說這是天堂。

家人 15 年前來到三藩市, 但兩人都沒有高級學位，英語不流利。丈夫花了幾個月的時間才找到一份最低工資的清潔工工作，這與香港的管理工作相比是一個巨大的降級。他們無錢, 用很少的錢租了一個不到 300 平方英尺的地下室，沒有窗戶，通風不好。與他們在香港的 1,000 多平方英尺公寓有女傭宿舍相比，生活條件很糟糕。

在巨大的經濟壓力和惡劣的生活條件下，小兒子直到今天都出現了健康問題，需要接受特殊教育。

在癌症治療的最後幾個月, 妻子每天都在哭，說她來美國的那天生活就毀了。她的母親感到很慚愧，以至於她沒有面來參加葬禮。