Mr. Kim came to Canada; he had dreams; did he realize them?

 Joseph H Chung (정희수), Ph.D.

Professor of economics Quebec State University in Montreal (UQAM)

(지난 호에 이어)

He said this with emotion. He apparently had enormous difficulty in getting a job.

“So what did you do?” asked Kim with expectation.

The man replied:  “Well, I knew a Korean who owned a corner grocery store. I approached him for advice. He told me that for a Korean, the grocery store may be the best bet.

You see, its biggest advantage is that it does not require a high level of French language proficiency; if you can say “Bonjour”, “Merci”, “Ceci est dix dollars”, “Au revoir” and business related French, you can run a grocery store. Another advantage is that you do not need refined management know-how.  It is a hard work, but you make money”.

He continued: “He told me to work with him and learn the grocery business. I did. I do not regret. I can support my family, I send my kid to private schools.”

Kim was listening as if the story would decide his whole life. He was almost sure that he would go for the depanneur. But he was worried about the sacrifice required by the grocery business. Lee, the host of the evening who was himself running a depanneur began to speak slowly but convincing.

“Yes, it is true that depanneur may not be the first choice, but it is perhaps the most realistic business which Korean immigrants can manage. It requires sacrifice".

"You see the moon twice a day: once at the dawn and, once more in the evening. It is a 15-hour hard labor a day. You have to spend all day by selling things for one dollar, two dollars".

"If you have a small family, you have to stay at the store alone; you have no time to go to washroom. I know that in some cases, this creates serious sickness. I heard about a lady who wished to go the Eaton store and buy a pretty blouse; she could not, because she died”.

Lee paused and said to his wife “Yobo, bring some more wine for our guests”.

His wife brought another bottle of wine and everybody shared. Lee continued to share his knowledge and experiences.

“One of the most difficult situations is one where the clients steal things and hide underneath the skirts. This kind of theft costs you more than 2% of your sale".

"But you have a real crisis when you confront armed thieves. Sometimes the thieves are your neighbors".

"I think that if you run depanneur, you encounter them twice a year in some cases. You should be very careful in coping with these people. You may call the police who may catch them".

"Then, they may revenge you later. In fact, I heard that a Korean was killed by armed thieves”, spoke Lee with concerned face.

Lee continued: “The so called “language police” is another problem. The Quebec government passed, in 1977, the Language Charter (Law 101) obliging the children of parents who were not educated in English school, to go to French school until high school; the law obliges firms of more than certain size to conduct business in French”.

Mr. Lee continued his thought on the language problem. as well.

He said:  “You must remember the political upheaval in Quebec. After two hundred years of English domination and the Catholic Church, the people of Quebec have decided to liberate themselves, under the leadership of the PQ party, from the dark period; the preservation of French language was the primary political tool to achieve what they wanted: self-respect, freedom, dignity, creativity and prosperity. The young Quebecers are now passionate and even aggressive in their determination of making Quebec a French nation”.

“For these people, the immigrants are a menace to the survival of Quebec as a cultural and political entity, because the immigrants are siding with English Canada. So, the young French Canadians go around the Korean depanneurs and blamed them for not speaking French. In some cases, they became violent”, remarked Lee.

“Guess what Professor Hong did; he went to some of the Korean depanneurs and put upon the wall behind the cashier a message in French that read:  “Koreans are learning French very hard. So give them enough time to learn!”. This calmed the young French Canadians whom the immigrants called ‘language police’. Despite all these problems, the deppannur is the number one choice for Koreans”, concluded Lee.

It was late. Kim was really tired. The guest left and Kim and his family went downstairs to go to bed.

In the bed, Kim talked to his wife:

“Yobo, don’t you think that we are really lucky? I didn’t expect that the church people would be so nice to us. We are so fortunate to be introduced to Lee and his family. I am sure that all these are the Providence of Almighty God”.

“Nancy’s Appa, you are right! We are blessed!”.

“Amen!” whispered Kim.

They switched off the light and tried to sleep. But despite the fatigue, Kim could not sleep. What he experienced, since his family arrived in Montreal, looked like a dream, but it was a reality.

It was a reality in which Kim could see the hope; it was a reality in which he could justify his decision to immigrate to Montreal.

He could see again the face of his mother full of motherly tears at Kimpo airport hugging Paul and Nancy.

Kim remembered how hard she tried to feed his five children under the Japanese rule and during the Korean War. Kim felt warm tears on his cheeks; he realized the power and beauty of mother’s love.

Kim said to himself: “Mother, I will be better son and try to be worthy of your sacrifice by becoming a good father, loving husband and above all a good Christian. Kim closed eyes and sleep came."

It was earl next morning when Kim woke up from sound sleep. Sookja and the kids were eating breakfast with the Lees except Mr. Lee, who went to open his depanneur.

“ Nancy’s Appa, have you slept well?”, saluted Sookja.

“ Yah, I slept like a baby”, replied Kim.

“Appa, are you all right?” greeted the kids.

“Yes! Yes! I feel good! I feel refreshed! I am ready to fight!”, shouted Kim with joy.

Then, he greeted Mrs. Lee and two children. (다음 호에 계속)

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