I have never feared more
for my life then I did on this particular day. On a Wednesday afternoon, I was
walking home from the market when some men took me and my sister. They took us
aboard a ship in which they communicated with, what sounded like Chinese. I
could hear a woman's voice talking to them; it sounded like she was in command.
My sister and I were
separated as they dragged us to separate parts of the ship, and I could hear
the men arguing and laughing among each other. I thought I knew how this was
going to play out, but I was absolutely wrong.
Rumor was, that when women
were kidnapped by pirates, they became slaves and were raped by all the men on
board. But this was going differently than expected. An Asian woman approached
me and with one look I knew she was not going to let anything happen to me. She
seemed strict with all the men on board and the men seemed quite scared of
their captain.
As time went by, I
witnessed many men being whipped and some were even beheaded if they disobeyed
the captain’s orders. I hated to be in the position I was in, but I tried to
not lose hope of returning home one day with my beloved family along with my
sister.
I began to lose track of
the days but weird enough I began to feel inspired by the captain of the fleet,
Ching Shih. I thought about how woman back home could never be in the position
in which they could rule over men, yet Ching Shih was. She seemed so powerful
and listened to, which made me want to feel the same way.
I took it upon myself
that if I ever made it back home, I would one day be powerful and listened to.
Even though I did not aspire to be a pirate I did want to help empower woman
one day. I unfortunately never made it back home, but I hope that in the future
woman can have more roles in society like men do today.
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