In A Land Where Love Before Marriage Is Taboo

It is more than just an uphill battle when the whole world conspires to keep us apart. From the very start, before we even met in person, the law of the land already warned us of such meetings. But we were somehow drawn to each other and worked around that obstacle. We met and we never wanted to say goodbye; and so we planned and it locked our fate together.

Is it wrong to be with the person you decide to tie the knot with?

Secretly we lived together. Happy and content in our little cocoon, sharing what little normalcy in life that we can. Less is more when you are in a land where a small mistake could put you behind bars. Life then was full of joy and bliss, though that didn’t last that long. A slight complication with my employer had forced me to decide to go back to my home country. We were sad with the decision but full of hope and expectation that this will be the way to apply for our paperwork and bring me back legally as a wife.

In the airport they stamped me with a ban which they said is 5 years. I stayed in my country and he came every year during his work vacations. We built our hope and helped each other make it through the struggle of being apart knowing that we will be together for good after 5 years is through. The 5th year finally came and we were ecstatic with the prospect of our life together. We inquired the status of my ban in anticipation of preparing for my return.

And my whole world collapsed when we learned that they had banned me for life. I was in utter disbelief. I am being treated like a criminal. In the same rank as drug traffickers and heinous crime offenders. I never even had a traffic violation in my life. And now I am being ranked with the criminals. The most agonising part of it is that I will not be able to be with my husband for life.

It nearly drove me to madness. And my husband now has to see a psychiatrist as a result of the stress of it all. When the world conspires to keep you apart, when every solution you could think has grave complications. When there is no light at the end of the tunnel. When you are holding on to the rope from where you are hanging while darkness engulfs you. When you are stuck in such hopeless situation, how do you go on?