My History teacher, Mrs Pollock gave us (her students) an assignment to do about the, Chinese railway workers who built the, Canadian Pacific Railway. On this assignment, Mrs Pollock asked us to put our selves in the Chinese railway workers shoes, and write a diary or an entry about them. I decided to write a entry on a worker named, Cheng Foo.
It was the year 1881 that I got to escape the poverty that China had. Unfortunately, I did not know that I was going to be taking myself into a worse environment. I was a fishermen back in China with a wife and two sons. When I was taken to Canada, I did not know the bad condition I would have to face. The food that was being given to me and the other railway workers was, one meal a day and very little water. I had even sent a note to my wife saying that, ten men were working had died all ready because of the low vitamins we were receiving. I was working with other Chinese men to build a Canadian railway, to connect Canada from the east coast to the west coast.
We had to build bridges over steep gorges, using a dynamite to fire through solid mountains, and blow up boulders to make way for the railway tracks. For this reason, I had lost my left arm. When I reported this to the Canadians, they had told me to keep working and one arm will not effect me. After one month, I found myself awake in a white room. I started to get up, but before I had a chance to open the door, a nurse came walking in. With no knowledge in English, I started to shake my hand back and forth, trying to indicate that I did not know where I was. She pointed to a needle in her hand and I immediately recognized that it was a hospital. After two weeks, I started to feel even worse. I wrote a letter to my family, telling them that I love them and I hope to see them one last time. The next day I was not able to move. I knew that it was my last day before my death. I closed my eyes feeling nothing but the last beat of my heart.
Cheng Foo went through a hard time in his life. I just want to say that, the people who say their was never any slavery in Canada should read this entry, and here are some websites you could visit if you need help getting started:
www.ccnc.ca
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
www.wikipedia.org
We had to build bridges over steep gorges, using a dynamite to fire through solid mountains, and blow up boulders to make way for the railway tracks. For this reason, I had lost my left arm. When I reported this to the Canadians, they had told me to keep working and one arm will not effect me. After one month, I found myself awake in a white room. I started to get up, but before I had a chance to open the door, a nurse came walking in. With no knowledge in English, I started to shake my hand back and forth, trying to indicate that I did not know where I was. She pointed to a needle in her hand and I immediately recognized that it was a hospital. After two weeks, I started to feel even worse. I wrote a letter to my family, telling them that I love them and I hope to see them one last time. The next day I was not able to move. I knew that it was my last day before my death. I closed my eyes feeling nothing but the last beat of my heart.
Cheng Foo went through a hard time in his life. I just want to say that, the people who say their was never any slavery in Canada should read this entry, and here are some websites you could visit if you need help getting started:
www.ccnc.ca
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
www.wikipedia.org
