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Immigrant spouses write and tell of life in Taiwan

Nervous but excited, immigrant spouses from nine countries shared their lives in Taiwan through a two-day speech and composition contest that began yesterday.

The competition is sponsored by the Rotary International District 3520 in cooperation with several organizations.

"We hope to facilitate immigrant spouses' integration into mainstream society by helping them improve their Mandarin writing and speaking skills," said Lina Wang (王麗娜), a Rotary official.

Seventy-five immigrant spouses from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Japan and China participated in the contest, Wang said.

Life in Taiwan is the theme for both the oral and written competitions. First-place winners are entitled to a prize of NT$20,000, while second and third place winners will receive NT$10,000 and NT$5,000 respectively.

Tina Huynh, a Vietnamese who has been married to a Taiwanese for five years, said she signed up for the contest because she wanted to give her speaking and writing abilities a try.

"I'm nervous, but I'm confident that I'll win a prize -- probably not the first place, but I'll win a prize," she said after finishing the composition contest.

Huynh said that communication was the most difficult part of adjusting to life in Taiwan.

"I couldn't understand Mandarin when I first got here, so I couldn't communicate with others," Huynh said. "Gradually, I became proficient in Mandarin, but there was still a problem because my mother-in-law speaks Hoklo [commonly known as Taiwanese]."

Eventually, Huynh learned to speak Hoklo.

"My life in Taiwan is like a learning process, and learning is not only helpful for myself, but also for my children and husband," she said.

Riny Sutiono, from Indonesia, recounted the story of how she came to Taiwan with a laugh.

"I took refuge in Taiwan when a riot broke out in Indonesia in 1998," Sutiono said. "Then , after I arrived here, I `accidentally' met my husband and married him."

To improve her communication skills, she registered for high school night classes but faced open discrimination from school officials.

"They questioned my ability to handle high-school-level materials and said that immigrant spouses are always loud in class," Sutiono said, adding that she did not give up and proved herself by successfully completing high school.

Now a naturalized Taiwanese citizen, she also goes by her Chinese name, Chang Hsiao-hui (張小慧).

Winners of the contest will be honored in an award ceremony next month.
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