Doctor - a zigzag journey

Part 4 - Growing up in a rural town: poverty & dignity

Background: 1974 - 1979 (Age 7 - 12 years)

It was a rainy morning. Walking on a muddy path, I could smell the wet soil and weeds along the path. The weeds were tall and waving gracefully in the breeze. Clad in my school uniform (a white shirt and a dark blue short pant), I climbed up a hill to go to a primary school called Shing Chung Chinese Primary School. I got to be cautious crossing a coconut-tree-bridge which was made of a trunk of a fallen coconut tree (similar to the picture in this chapter).

I was ten-year-old; I studied primary year four. I wouldn't bother Ah Ma to help me crossing the coconut-tree-bridge anymore. Balancing skill was essential in order to avoid falling into the river especially when the bridge was wet. Sometimes my classmate made a joke saying that I crossed over the hill to attend "Shaolin Gong Fu" [meaning martial art] class. Hey, I felt that too!

When I reached the school, the bell rang. I sat down quietly on my allocated seat at the back row. I was neither too tall nor too short but my teacher allocated the back seat to me. The chair and table were made of wood. When I moved my buttock on the chair, I could hear the rusty hinge joints making a squeaky sound. Oh, this scene occurred in a small rural town called Sungai Siput (which means Snail River).

Sungai Siput was a small village town in Perak state in Malaysia. I was born in the town in 1967. My father (I called him Ah Ba) was a tall and thin man who worked as a driver. My mother (I called her Ah Ma) was short but she was our "superwoman" because she was capable of multi-tasking i.e. making delicious Chinese cuisines and selling them, sewing our clothes, babysitting for the neighbor, and working in a factory. I have two elder brothers and two elder sisters.

My parents married at older ages. Ah Ma gave birth to me when she was 38. She did not have an opportunity to go to school. But she was smart. She picked up skills in handy craft and had a good command of Mandarin and Malay languages. Our dialect is Hokkien, but we can speak fluent Cantonese and Mandarin as well. Ah Ba might have attended school as he could write good Chinese. He worked hard but his income was limited. Ah Ma was the other main pillar of the family.

It was financially hard to raise and educate five children at that time. Initially, our whole family (seven of us) lived in a rented room. After accumulating some savings, we managed to live in a wooden house. We appreciated that. The roof of the wooden house was made of rusty zinc which made noise in rain. I felt blessed living in this family.

The villagers were mostly friendly. They lived simple lives. They were mostly rubber tappers, farmers, hawkers, laborers etc. When dawn breaks, adults went to work, and children went to school.

After school, I quickly completed my homework so that I could help my family selling Chinese cuisines such as "nine-layered kuih", "ang gu kuih", and "Oneh Oneh" (in short I called them "kuih"). Ah Ma made yummy cuisines! As a driver, Ah Ba worked outdoor. All my siblings loved this home and we were very cooperative and supportive of each other. All of us helped in the making of cuisines. My siblings worked harder than I did.

In the afternoon, Ah Ma and I went out to sell "kuih". We filled them in baskets and carried them door to door including factories. One piece of "kuih" was sold for only 20 cents. We needed to sell quite a number of pieces before we could break even. In hot afternoon, we sweated profusely but we never complained about being poor. We worked hard to earn a living so that we would not starve and could afford attending school.

It was tea time in a factory. We put our "kuih" on a table. Owing to a short break time, the workers ordered and ate hurriedly.

A hot-tempered worker yelled at Ah Ma, "Kuih-lady, bring me two pieces of nine-layered kuih!"

I was upset by his rudeness and the tone of his voice.

I told him: "You don't need to yell at my mother. Nah, nine-layered kuih."

He could be rude to me, but I would not let him looking down on Ah Ma. We were poor, but we always have dignity!

***

A notable quote:

Adam Smith: "The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations."

Reference: brainyquote website