I have died. I have died many times—before I was even born. After my birth, they still wanted me gone, but they failed. They pressured my parents to sign me away for adoption, but my mother held onto me for dear life.

The story of my birth defined my personality early on, and it continues to inform who I am. When I tried to write about walking across Kyrgyzstan, I realized that a more pressing story needed to be told. I needed to first understand myself before I could write about my actions. My birth story, therefore, became my coming home story.

Youjia Song is an English language teacher, adventurer and new writer. Her article about her 2-year expedition called “Crossing Kyrgyzstan: A Woman's Journey on Foot Through Land, Culture and History” was published by She Went Wild in 2018. Youjia is currently working on her memoir.

You can find more of her work at http://acrosswildlands.com 

Acknowledgements:

Memoria was written,  produced, edited and presented by Natalie V.

I died before I was born was written and read by Youjia Song.  The story was sound edited by Jen Farrow.

Music in this episode was by Blue Dot Sessions,   Sage the Hunter, When in the West and The Envelope.

Illustrations by Peta Manning. Her book, See Me Doodle, is out now.