Surviving Bullies Project Blog
Friday, April 28, 2006
Oh China
ey everyone!
The Chinese translation of the Surviving Bullies Workbook is finally finished!
It was surreal to see the content that we’ve come to know so well in a different language. For me, the Chinese version is unrecognizable in appearance, but it’s familiar when I read it because the ideas are the same. I grew up speaking Chinese. I still speak it at home. So reading the Chinese version was quite the mind trip it brings me into a different context – home and childhood.
Continuing on this personal note, after the workbook was translated into Chinese, my family was able to read it. A few days ago, after having read the workbook, my uncle told me a heartbreaking story about my dad. He told me that as he was reading, an image kept coming to his mind. When my dad, his older brother, was nine, he used to fetch water for the family from the river that ran by their house. My uncle remembers seeing my dad coming home barefoot a few times—a bit scratched up and red-faced (like he’d been crying)—because a group of boys would tease him and throw his flip-flops into the river.
I was stunned to hear that story. I never would have guessed that my dad was a target of bullying. I feel sorry for that little boy my dad once was, and I can’t help but think that this must be how my mom felt when she first heard about my experiences with bullying, three years after the fact. Today I write to you all with a wider emotional perspective on the issue of bullying. This project has been one that has fostered my personal and professional growth while allowing me to make positive contributions to society.
Stay tuned for more developments on the SBP in China.
Cheers,
Shan Shan
Posted by Dickon on 04/28/06 at 11:09 AM
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