I remember my first day at school – sixty-six years ago. There were no pre-school or kindergarten classes where I lived.
My three elder sisters and I piled into a riskshaw pulled along by an old Chinese man. When we reached school, I had to join the group of new Standard One pupils. My sisters lined up in their own classes happily.
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Ibarat padi, makin berisi makin tunduk, begitulah Nenda ingin sikap cucu-cucu Nenda, terutama terhadap orang tuamu sendiri.
Ingatlah, dengan adanya orang tuamu, maka kamu dapat melihat alam dunia ini. Mereka juga ibarat pelita lilin yang menerangi hidupmu dan juga ibarat roda yang berputar pagi hingga petang.
Our favourite safari was hunting for spiders in the thick undergrowth. I was about 10, your Kau Gongs and Ee Pors were between 4 and 13.
All prized catches were kept in matchboxes and primed for battles. Your Leong Kau Gong was always the First King, his spiders, I mean!
We had to be up before 5am to catch the bus and got home only at 6pm. It was a long day but we enjoyed the bus ride and studied very hard to do well.
As we had no electricity we had to use kerosene lamps to study. We helped mother to draw water from the well and wash the clothes. When father needed us, we dug the garden and planted tapioca and other vegetables.
Life was not what it is now. Just think how fortunate we all are today, Grandpa and I would like to let you know how blessed both of you are and that we should thank God for even the smallest things in our lives.
Always remember that a little kindness to someone goes a long way and we hope that there is always someone like uncle who is always ready to give a helping hand when and where help is needed.