In YanPeng, a village in southern China in 1957, my grandma was entered into an arranged marriage. Unlike other girls from her village, her husband was in Colombia.
Years prior, my grandfather's uncle served as a chef for miners on boats bound for America, where the idea of “America” encompassed any country from North to South of America.
My great uncle ended up in Colombia, opening up bakeries, known for their pineapple cake and passion fruit cheese cake. One of my favorite qualities about being Chinese is that family is everything. When he finally was able to build his life in Colombia, he invited my grandfather to join him. It was the pre-Tinder era and they decided that he should get married. Choosing through physical photographs, they selected my Paupau, Lia, captured leaning against a suitcase against a backdrop of palm trees.Â
Life's unpredictable roll had presented her with this path, leaving her no choice but to move. Over the next eight years, Lia gave birth to five amazing children, became fluent in Spanish, opened a restaurant, and faced the challenges of being an entrepreneurial woman in the 1900s—especially as one of the few Chinese families in Bogota.