to take Yuri to a relative’s place for dinner. They could only stay for a little while.
We found a corner to sit and have some drinks while we waited for Ha-Neul. Sunny was keen to catch up with Yuri and, while they were talking, Kyonga and I got to know Angela. She was pretty and looked younger than her twenty-three years. The recently formed scar on her face was noticeable and, like Kyonga, I worried that there must have been something bad happen to her, but she didn’t seem to want to talk about it. Kyonga noticed her embarrassment and changed the subject to the situation of her friends in the other branch.
Angela had not yet found out that Carmen, one of the friends she had met on the plane, had had an accident. She had caught her hand in machinery and lost a thumb and most of her index finger. Yuri hadn’t talked to Angela about it but she told Sunny what had happened while Angela talked with me and Kyonga. Their voices had become raised. Our conversation was interrupted.
‘You knew about this and you didn’t say anything.’ Sunny’s voice silenced everyone in the dining room. ‘Did you tell Angela … No! It didn’t matter … did it!’
Angela demanded to be told what this was about. ‘I thought things were going well for all of them. I never would have thought that something so horrible had happened,’ she said in shock.
Kyonga tried to calm her down.
‘Sunny knows how concerned you are about your friends, Angela, so she asked me to go with you to see if we can do anything.’
Yuri was very quiet. Kyonga asked her if she would be willing to help. She pointed out how terrible the conditions were for these workers but when she was asked what she thought she told them she didn’t want to be involved.
‘I know their lives are harder than ours, but it’s what they have chosen. It’s even harder in their own countries and they are glad of the chance to work here. We have studied hard to qualify for better jobs and careers. We can’t be responsible for everyone else.’ She looked as if she might cry. No one knew how to respond.
‘Besides, Linda was very kind to the Filipina who hurt her hand, even though they lost a lot of work time because she had been careless.’
Angela turned white. ‘You knew, all this time, but you didn’t even tell me,’ she said, trembling with rage.
Just then Ha-Neul approached the table. Sensing the tense situation, he introduced himself politely but he didn’t smile. Looking intently at Yuri he said, ‘We have to go.’
The other three sat, very subdued. ‘You understand I really want to help, don’t you?’ Kyonga looked directly at Angela, who nodded.
‘It’s disappointing that Yuri won’t help us,’ said Kyonga, ‘but it’s understandable. She doesn’t want trouble at work and she hasn’t seen how bad things can be for these women. I hope she might change her mind – I hope her boyfriend does too. We need more men to help the male migrant workers. There are so many of them as well.’
‘Sam?’ murmured Sunny.
‘Sam Choi works with us in the office,’ explained Angela. ‘He has already helped me once to contact my friends. He would have come tonight but he has to work.’
‘Let’s just take things one step at a time,’ said Kyonga. ‘We have to make plans for Sunday. The three of us could go separately to the gate and collect some of your friends, Angela, and we can all take a bus to my parents’ home. They can have a meal there and talk freely about how we can help.’
Angela smiled. It was such a relief for her to have somebody helping.
‘I’ll come for you both in the car. Each of you can collect just a couple of the women at a time so we don’t attract attention. I’ll leave the car parked near the factory and we’ll take buses to my parents’ house and talk about how we can help,’ said Kyonga.
‘Is all this pretence necessary? I thought we would just go to the gate and wait for all of them,’ Angela said.
I tended to agree with her but Kyonga said, ‘Just bear with me. We want to avoid trouble. If groups of workers are seen to be meeting in an organised way, especially with outsiders, they invite suspicion and could be refused permission to leave. There are still laws in force since the war. The ten o’clock curfew is one. Factory owners are also wary of unauthorised gatherings, although that is not often enforced these days.’
We left after a light meal. Kyonga took me home first since I lived so close to the city. I wondered if there was anything I should do to help.
‘Wait until after Chuseok; there’s not much any of us can do until then apart from finding out what needs to be done. But if you want to join us after that I really would appreciate it,’ Kyonga said as she let me out at my apartment gate.
Eight
The next few weeks went by quickly. We were all spending long days at middle-school but I had also started classes in Korean language at the nearby university. I saw very little of Myong-Ai who left in the mornings before I was up and sometimes came home quite late from visiting her family. When we were both at home the atmosphere was strained and I felt guilty most of the time while not exactly knowing why.
Kyonga had phoned me after visiting the factory. The biggest problem that concerned the workers was the lack of any information about their bank accounts. They wanted bank books or ATM cards instead of having to beg for money to buy essentials such as toiletries. They were anxious to know if the money promised their families was getting to them. Kyonga had urged some of the women to speak to the manager and to request access to their accounts.
‘It was unlikely that he would comply and the women were reluctant to approach him about it,’ she said. ‘There’s a new manager who was put in place recently, when the company started expanding to other cities. The previous manager had been more approachable, although he had approved the policies which caused so much grief. Still, they need to go through the right procedures – give the new manager, Mr Liu, the chance to agree to their requests to show they are being reasonable – before any formal complaints can be lodged.’
This was something I could do after Chuseok, Kyonga said. If ATM cards or bank books were not granted I could help set up an avenue of complaint, perhaps with their embassy. A westerner would be more likely to be listened to than a Korean. I looked forward to being able to do what I could, I told her.
I asked if Angela’s friends had gone to have dinner as they planned.
‘Yes. We had a nice time. At first Carmen wouldn’t come to the gate but Angela made Gloria take her to Carmen’s room and then coaxed her into coming with us. I don’t know how she got past the guard. Nothing stops her it seems.’
Marilyn had begun to spend every weekend, at my place. She still hadn’t found a suitable place to rent and she could barely tolerate staying with her host family. She was much happier sleeping on Myong-Ai’s couch, even though they didn’t get on. There had been no replies to our letters so we were happy to be on our way to Busan.
The holiday was everything we had hoped for. Being just the three of us, Olga, Marilyn and me, worked out perfectly. We knew each other well and had the same sense of humour. We could all see the funny side of our faux pas, such as when we went swimming at Haeundae Beach on the main holiday, when locals were dressed as if for a cocktail party and looked us up and down as we trailed out of the surf looking like drowned rats.
We
