A 54-year-old Indonesian widow who sold homemade dumplings in Taiwan to help raise her three children won an award as the “most beautiful mother” in Kaohsiung City during Mother’s Day celebrations this year.
The woman, whose Taiwanese husband died many years ago, has lived on the island for more than 27 years and adopted the Chinese name Wang Li-Chiao. She has raised her three children by herself by selling homemade dumplings, China Times reported.
Her husband, who was an alcoholic, died of heart diseases and other related illnesses, leaving her with three young children to raise.
As a widow and new immigrant, the only way Wang could think of to make ends meet was to make and sell savory glutinous rice dumplings filled with minced pork, which was a favorite dish of her late husband.
For almost three decades, she woke up before daybreak and started cooking and wrapping 200 dumplings, each of which she sold for only TW$15 (US$0.5). She then rode a bicycle along the coastal area of Kaohsiung City all day until all the dumplings were sold.
Recalling those difficult days at the awards ceremony, she said at times sales was so bad that the family did not have enough money for proper meals. However, she added she would rather go without her food to make sure her children were well-fed.
Wang’s eldest child has graduated and serves as a nurse in the military, while her two younger children are still at school. The single mother added that their welfare was always the best gift on Mother’s Day.