It was a heartwarming reunion for Indonesian Natasha Febriani.
The 20-year-old met her Taiwanese father Chen Wen Yu and her two elder brothers – Chen Thin Chun, 27 and Chen Wei Chuan, 24 – for the very first time in Taiwan last Friday.
Natasha was still in her mother Wong Mei Tju’s womb when Wong left Taiwan for Jakarta following a domestic dispute with her husband.
Natasha thought she would never get to meet her father as they had lost contact for a long time – until her colleague Tay Hock Seng initiated a mission to unite her family.
Upon learning her predicament, Tay, a Malaysian based in Jakarta, reached out to his friend Grayson Cheng who is based in Taiwan to help locate Chen. AirAsia, upon learning about the tale from Tay, sponsored Natasha, Wong and Tay’s flight tickets to Taiwan.
Twentytwo13 reported about the heartwarming tale on Friday.
Natasha said she and her mother plan to start a new life with their family in Pali Hsiang, an hour’s drive from Taipei. She shares her tale with Twentytwo13.
“It was an emotional moment for me when I first saw my father and elder brother at the Taoyuan Airport on Friday. Due to the language barrier, we didn’t speak much but I cried. We then travelled back to my father’s house in Pali Hsiang.
He lives in a humble home with only two bedrooms for my brothers. I learnt that my father will usually sleep in the living room.
The first night, my father fried noodles with some prawns, meatballs and vegetables. It was one of the best noodles I have tasted in my life. For the first time, we sat together and had dinner as a family. We exchanged information about our respective lives.
My dad was very happy but it has been difficult communicating with him as he speaks Hokkien and I don’t know how to converse in that dialect.
We went to bed early, at about 10pm, as I’ve not been sleeping for the past few days, obviously excited to meet my family whom I have only spoken to over the phone.
The next day, we went to buy groceries and my mother cooked for the family. It seems surreal but we were just like any other family.
My mother and I now plan to stay here for six months. Much of our belongings are still in Jakarta, so we will go back to pack our stuff and relocate to Taiwan thereafter.
I want to brush up on my Hokkien and Mandarin and may take up a language course. I hope to also find a job here, so I can help my family. In the interim I will help my father tend his fruit farm.
On behalf of my family, we would once again like to thank Tay, Cheng and AirAsia for making this union possible.”
