yenew's Blurty

The Unsung Hero (II)
He was born in Tekong, in the aftermath of WWII.

His parents were from Guangdong, Dabu. His dad worked as a cobbler when he was young. One fateful day in his 5th year, a fire raged his fire-prone house. The whole family was safe, but his dad knew all the money was inside the house, and despite everything, ran in in a bid to retrieve their everything. He lost the gamble.

And so his mom brought him and his two sisters up single-handedly. Despite the bad family circumstances, his mom sent him to school because he's the only son. All the way through primary school - where all the children in Tekong went to the same school.

Then time came for him to go to secondary school. There wasn't a secondary school on the island, so his mom sent him to a school in mainland Singapore. He had to stay from house to house, according to the generosity of his friends and their families. To help out the family finances, he worked as a newspaper boy.

Soon, he graduated from secondary school. However, his poor English kept him from furthering his studies. And his clumsiness (and lack of good tutoring) prevented him from a driving licence. And Tekong was taken over by the Govt. to become an army training ground.

So he went ahead to try to report for NS. His blood count was too low (or something to that extent), so was exempted from the cheap labour.

His whole family relocated to a little town in JB, called Ulu Tiram. There, his mom worked till they saved enough to buy a little plot of rubber plantation, thereafter, they became full-time rubber tappers.

He got to know a girl, got married, and was expecting the same kid. Trusting in Singapore's education, he decided to let his wife give birth in Singapore. But they continued staying in Malaysia, until it was time for the first child to go to kindergarden. By then, they had 3 children.

By the time he had the fourth child in 1981, he was 39, and was working as a semi-skilled labourer in a shipyard, repairing ships.

He took on the extra hours to earn extra cash to see his four children through University.

Just when happier times were expected, his mom who brought him up died of stroke (and old age). Barely 2 years later, his wife who fought the brave battle of life with him passed away of sarcoma.

Despite the poverty, despite the single-parenthood, despite the widowing trauma, he has fought a great fight, and is victorious in everything. Sure he has his shortfalls. Sure there were times when he thought he couldn't carry on. But the fact that he did, and so strongly he emerged, won all my respect and love.

Thank you dad for everything. Happy birthday.

This is a sequel to The Unsung Hero (I)

Current Mood: grateful