For Christmas 2019, I skipped the usual festive celebration and instead received a holiday message from Ablimit, the #Uyghur father of four who lost contact with his family for the second time this year. We chatted a bit, and he sounded just tired and powerless.
Over the last year, I’ve had dozens of interviews or simply chats with overseas #Uyghurs who set aside their usual life and took on the mission of advocating for their missing families.
For all of them, repeated threats and harassments from #Beijing is nothing new, and having to actively engage with government officials as well as human rights organizations have become a new normal.
And for me, someone who lives thousands of miles away from them, listening to their stories and trying to put them into words have become an important part of my work. Over time, I develop the habit of following up on their cases, hoping every new development is positive.
We often say it’s better to keep a little distance between yourself and the story that you are working on. But in the case of the #Xinjiang crisis, I sometimes find it tough to just view it as a complete bystander, even though I havenmt met any of these sources in person.
So to find a comfortable balance for myself, I develop the habit of checking with them every few weeks to a month, hoping every check in would bring some positive news about their family members.
So on Christmas Day 2019, I’m thinking of those deprived of the right to be with loved ones and those who are currently trapped with #China’s massive interment system.
