In 2019, I completed a 1200 km journey on foot across the length of Kyrgyzstan. Upon my return to Australia, I planned to write about the adventure, but when I sat down to contemplate where the tenacity to walk across a country came from, I realised that I had inherited courage and fearlessness from my mother.

            It sparked the urge to learn my story—the second child—and how my mother fought the Chinese State to keep me. I wanted to know how the world shaped her, and how she shaped me in return. This search has evolved into a memoir, a homecoming story, a journey into myself and my roots.

            The first part of the story resulted in a flash story recorded into a podcast called “I died before I was born” published by Memoria in 2020.