THIS IS MY LIFE - 5

5- MY CALL TO OFFICERSHIP
We came from a traditional Chinese family. My parents and relatives were not particularly religious, but every evening my mother used to light a joss stick and taught me to pray to the god of heaven to make me be a good girl and also to bless our family.

Growing up in an Army Home, I came to faith while at a young age. I asked Ku Ma for permission. to become a Christian. She was pragmatic, reckoning that as I was staying in a Christian Home, we should do as we were taught. So I became a junior soldier, singing company member, corps cadet, company guard (Sunday school teacher) etc.

In those days The Army used to hold Youth councils annually. To maximise public holidays, special meetings were held on those days. I well remember attending my first Youth Councils in 1949. I was very excited to be eligible until it was disclosed that a new OC decided to conduct the event on the second day of Chinese New Year! New Year eve was the only time in the year when we residents from the Homes were allowed to stay out for the night. Understandably, my aunt was not happy for me to return to the Army for the special meetings. Not being able to visit our elders, we children also missed out on receiving angpows! (This would never happen today!) However, we young people obediently did as we were told. It was in the closing meeting that day when I felt the call to officership in the Army. On hindsight, I reckon God allowed all this to take place. Unbeknown to each other a young man also heard and responded to the call. Today he is my husband of more than 51 years!

Initially I resisted because I knew that my aunt would oppose. I myself was also reluctant. Finally, I responded and became a Junior Candidate at 13 years of age. Then during my final year in school, in 1953, The Army made preparations to reopen the Training College the following year. I was sent my first Candidate papers.

I had put off the day when I would have to inform Ku Ma of my decision to serve God full time in The Army. She was always telling me about her dream of setting up home with my sister and me as soon as I finish school and able to get a job. She felt that we were very deprived as orphans. She used to tell us of her family being served by “mui-chai” or maids. I would tell her that I was learning some domestic skills which would be enough.

Then she would go on to say that she would have a challenge to find me a suitable husband because I had dragon boat-sized feet, unlike her small and once-bound ones. Only a poor workman would marry a girl with such great big feet! I presumed the same fate would await my sister too!

When I did tell my aunt that I was going into full-time service in The Salvation Army, she was most upset and strongly objected. Her contact with Army officers had only been with single women. She must have thought I was going to be a nun! As a compromise, she suggested I could do so after her death. She had looked forward to me finishing school and setting up home with her. Quoting the 5th commandment to obey one’s parents, she challenged my faith. She scolded, and then coaxed me to give up the idea and even found a pastor to see me. She then proposed that I postpone this matter for 2 years, until my younger sister finish her schooling. At first I thought that was a fair deal, but my Corps Cadet Guardian warned that the delay might be a temptation to thwart God’s will. In desperation, she contacted my father in Hong Kong. He sent money for Ku Ma and my sister to join him and his new family in Hong Kong. They threatened to abandon and disown me! Ku Ma would not disrupt my sister’s education, but she took her out of the Home, to live with her. She must have had a great struggle to see Pui Sim through her last two years in school without a regular income. Similar to the elderly today, she could only work part-time, as and when needed, like being employed as a confinement nanny - caring for a new mother and her baby for the first month after birth.

Meantime I signed my Candidate’s papers in September 1953; sat for my senior Cambridge exams in December; and entered training in January 1954. Later on in the year, from the college I went back to school to receive my GCE and school leaving certificates.

To be fair to my aunt, I must say Ku Ma was not such a terror. Her bark was worse than her bite! She did receive me when I visited her during our free time from training. Most importantly she came to my commissioning and ordination on 25th October 1954. This was more than 55 years ago!