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Westerner finds new home in China
Sitting quietly in a corner of a winding passageway at the Yilecun Home for the Elderly in the Jinniu District of downtown Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Mary Eudy looks no different from any of the other elders around her.
"I didn't realize that she was an American, for her clothes were almost the same as those of any Chinese woman of her age," said Xiao Li, one of the volunteers. Xiao was not the only Chinese to be pleasantly surprised. "Perhaps the only Westerner living in a seniors' home in Chengdu, Mary Eudy has been a newsmaker among local residents and journalists since her arrival last December," said Wu Jun, 53, director of the Yilecun Home for the Elderly, who used to be a general practitioner.
It was on December 19 last year when Wu was at a meeting. The gate attendant came to her to tell her that a foreigner and his interpreter wanted to visit the home. Wu spoke to them and showed them around. After the tour, the man said: "I would like to send my mother here." "I thought he was kidding," recalled Wu, who has been the director of the seniors' home since its establishment six years ago. "We had never had any foreigners before." "I'm serious, you can ask my wife," said George Eudy, pointing at the Chinese woman whom the gate keeper had taken to be the man's interpreter. "My husband brought his mother to Chengdu several months ago, for fear of her being lonely in the United States after his father passed away two years ago," said Gao Hong, George Eudy's wife. "However, we aren't able to spend much time with her since we are busy with our work and sometimes have to go out of town on business." Mary is suffering from cerebral atrophy. The couple believed that living with other people and being socially involved would help improve their mother's health. A child education major, Mary Eudy ran a school with several friends teaching mentally disabled children in Virginia. Over her 45-year working life, she has helped many mentally disabled children. Mary's husband worked in the railway locomotive manufacturing business. He took her to China five times on his trips to the country to investigate the locomotive market. "We went to Beijing, Sichuan and Tibet," recalled Mary, who was impressed by the culture and people of the country. Mary has two children. Her daughter lives in Virginia, while her son and his wife live in Chengdu. Mary said that she once had the idea of spending her remaining years in China. She has somehow realized her dream. On December 27 last year, she moved into the seniors' home in Chengdu. For a monthly fee of 670 yuan (US$81), Mary has a room that she shares with two others and a caretaker. "Although the seniors' home has no interpreter, Mary can 'talk' with others with gestures," said 55-year-old Xu Derong, who serves as Mary's caretaker. However, gestures sometimes don't work at first. Mary used to sleep badly and make a lot of noise at night. Xu later noticed that whenever Mary cried out she would beat her waist and legs. After realizing Mary had a problem with her waist and legs, Xu would get up at night and give Mary massage and some other forms of treatment. Almost all of the residents in the home are local people from Jinniu District. Having never or seldom seen a foreigner before, they feel it is great fun to communicate with her using gestures. "Some of them have picked up a few English words, such as 'hello' and 'good morning' from Mary, while Mary can say 'thank you' and 'you are so pretty' in Chinese," Xu said. "Mary loves Chinese food and she can use chopsticks very well," Wu said. "She is also trying to learn how to play mah-jong." A social person, Mary is popular with her friends in the home and their relatives. Shao Zejun, 85, is one of Mary's roommates. Whenever her 60-year-old son Cheng Dingbang visits her, he asks Mary to have some of his mother's apple, steamed bun or dumplings. When he found Mary's slippers did not suit her, he bought a pair as a gift for her late last month. "Mary told me the other day that she had her visa extended," said Wu. "She said she will not return to the United States." |
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