The Contingency Plan

Althought I've thought about it often I haven't been able to find the energy to write about my Uncle Camel's death yet so I will in point form and then through a letter I received tonight from my brother Harry in Taiwan. The whole story seems surreal to me. It's so fucked up and the loss has left me feeling hollow and depressed. I'm finding it hard to eat and can't imagine what my mother and her siblings are feeling.

* Leading up to the event, my Uncle Camel had abandoned his family - his wife and two daughters and had developed a serious drinking habit
* He'd borrowed money off my Uncle Ding (over US$20k) and from serious gangsters my cousin is involved with to invest in a chicken farm in China
* The woman who apparently owned the chicken farm kept demanding more money for chicken feed, etc so my Uncle Camel grew further in debt
* This woman then took all the money and disappeared
* To this day my family cannot find her
* Uncle Camel fled to China to track down this woman and hide from the gangsters
* He found the chicken farm but bird flu then hit and they had to kill all the chickens
* My Aunty and cousin flew to China to bride the officials for my Uncle's body. They then had to bride them again to ensure they cleaned the oven out from the cremation before my uncle's. Apparently they don't normally do this as they seriously don't care.

This is the letter my brother wrote to me and my younger sister tonight:

Hi,

Well, things are going as well as they could go here. The plane ride was boring but it was hard too cause at one stage mum broke down crying so I was comforting her. Uncle Ding has been over these last few days too. He's really affeected by Uncle Camel's death. HE broke down crying last night too. Saiad he hasn't been able to concentrate at work or really mourn properly but he did last night. It's hard to see.

Aunty Jacky and Mou Mou (our cousin) are coming back from China with Uncle Camel's ashes tomorrow night. It turns out that he committed suicide after heavy drinking. Mum said that his living conditions were worse than when she grew up, he only had a few outfits, one pair of shoes and no toilet. He wrote his will on a cigarette packet. He was swindeled out of about $40,000 by a woman and her family. He helped them get out of debt and open up a chicken farm but she took his money and left him in the slum. Mum says that he wasn't someone who held grudges but he cursed her in his will down to 10 generations. He was really hurt by this woman. He wrote that he helped bring her out of hell but she just turned around and put him into hell.

Wei Chen and Go May (Uncle Camel's two daughters) haven't been scoring many runs with the family. They didn't call up to thank their uncles and aunties for helping to bring Uncle Camel back or even check to see how things were going. They say that their mum doesn't want them to go to the funeral so they won't go but that's a crock. I told mum that they're not children and that nothing's stopping them from going to the funeral if they really wanted to. It seems to me that they are pretty angry at their dad for not being there but still. he's their dad so they should go. Mum's firing up about it.

We're off to the night markets now. I'm getting the hurry up from May (another cousin). I'll keep you updated as to what's happening. Love you both. Say hi to dad for me.

Peace out,
Harry.

Please accept my condolences. This is an odd but sad situation. It must be hard for your family to deal with, as it would for anyone.