"Around the time of the fall of the Wall, I used to go to different border crossings and document what was going on photographically. While I was taking some photos on the Bornholmer Straße, two Asian women I didn't know approached me. They were both Vietnamese and asked me to help them.
At the time it wasn't just GDR citizens wanting to come over to the West. Migrant workers wanted to come over too, but weren't allowed to. Ten of them had travelled to Berlin from Altenburg (in Thüringen). In order to avoid drawing any attention to themselves, they had travelled without any luggage and did as if they'd just come to take a look at what was happening in the West. But out of the ten, only these two women managed to cross the border in the stream of people. They asked me if they could come back to my place so that they could call relatives or friends in Hanover. I was impressed by their courage although they, needless to say, seemed rather anxious in that moment.
We went back to my one-bedroomed flat and phoned Hanover. The plan was for them to go to a Vietnamese family in Berlin that very day. We had a bite to eat and left again. The underground was so full that we very nearly lost the younger one of the two because she didn't manage to get on the same train as us.
When we got to the flat, a Vietnamese woman heartily welcomed her fellow countrywomen. The two women finally relaxed, their faces beaming. They wanted to give me a 5 DM coin (their only Western money) for the phone call – I of course couldn't accept it. However, I was happy to accept another gift, namely a small bag of dried meat. It had been their food provision for the journey. That was the first time in my life that I ate dog meat."
Fumiko Matsuyama
