My Mother is More Than a Comfort Woman

Four short narratives on the ‘Lolas’ or Filipino ‘comfort women’ survivors, written from the daughters’ and granddaughter’s perspectives.

There is an urgent need to find an alternative way to convey the legacy of the Lolas. Since many Lolas spoke up in the early 1990s, they have continued fighting for justice, sharing their wartime experiences, and protesting against wars in order to avoid creating another generation of ‘comfort women’. However, it is getting more and more difficult to hear their life stories from the Lolas themselves since most of them are already in their nineties and many Lolas have passed away. As of 2019, only three Lolas were still sharing their wartime experiences. Younger generations are responsible for carrying on the legacies of the Lolas.

The authors wanted to make something that was not directly depending on the Lolas themselves, but on younger generations who can act on it. Thus, they interviewed the second or third generation of the Lolas’ families. There are only a few books or other media focusing on the life stories of the Lolas. In many cases, when the ‘comfort women’ survivors were interviewed, the focus of the interviews tended to be limited to their wartime experiences. Interviewing the family members of the Lolas was a way to find out their perspectives on their mothers or grandmother, to learn how they have lived after the war and how they associated with their family and many other aspects of their lives.

We hope this book can honor the Lolas, or Filipino ‘comfort women’ survivors, as marvelous women who have continued fighting for justice and lived through the years despite all the difficulties.