Thursday, March 11, 2010

THIS IS MY LIFE - 8

8. THE HOME CALL of KU MA
During the 1950s life was simply and rather routine compared to these days. As corps officers we were busy enough though. The highlight of the year was the anniversary of The Army’s beginnings in the Singapore and Malaya Command, usually celebrated the last weekend in May. As there were only the Children’s Home and Corps in Kuching then, the officers of each centre attended the Anniversary every other year, while the others held the fort.

After the celebrations, we would take our annual furlough which was only two weeks for lieutenants and three weeks for captains onwards, including travelling time! Our means of travelling to and from Kuching was by weekend boat; this would take more than two weeks! It seemed that Lieutenant Chan and I would not be able to have our annual leave in Singapore then, because our time away would exceed a fortnight! However, Colonel Harvey was very kind. He allowed us to travel one way by plane! Unheard of! The other officers thought we were thoroughly spoilt! Imagine how excited Lt. Chan and I were!

Ku Ma, my aunt, was envious of me travelling by air! She had never been out of Singapore from the day she first arrived in Singapore in a cargo boat from China, some twenty years earlier. I promised that I would save enough to buy her a plane ticket to visit me in Kuching.
However, this was not to be because before the end of the year she passed away.

Ku Ma had started to attend Sunday worship at the Chinese YMCA. During my two weeks of furlough, each Sunday I went with her to a Cantonese service. (There was no Chinese ministry in The Army then.)
We had no idea that she was suffering from kidney problems. Even when she was sick in Kwong Wai Siew Hospital, she asked to keep it from me. The time came when she was transferred to Sago Lane, no church or pastor would minister to her because my aunt was not baptized. The Army came to the rescue; Major Tan Eng Soon visited her. (He was the father of Christina Ng and grandfather of Sharon, Kathryn and Benjamin of Central Corps) A telegram was sent me in Kuching but was not received till three days later! A second one arrived informing me of her Home call. Somehow, I arrived at the Singapore airport, whisked straight to the Bidadari Cemetery to an Army funeral with a band on duty! This was all possible, thanks to the mercy of God and the efficiency of the PR officer, Major Stan Gordon.

My sister finished her Senior Cambridge Exams on 10th and the Lord took Ku Ma Home on 15th December 1955. This was exactly two years after I went to The Army Training College. At first I had a sense of regret for not acceding to her request to postpone my training till Pui Sim finished her crucial exams, to enable us to share some family life together. However, I have a clear conscience because I had made my decision based on the Word of our Lord – that Jesus should have precedence in all things. (Matt 10: 37) In any case, I believe the Lord took my Ku Ma to a mansion in glory, better than any palace on earth! (She was living with my sister in a little room at the back of the basement of a big house in Cairnhill Circle where I stayed them while on furlough.)

When Ku Ma passed away my sister was 17 years old, and had to wait till the following year to enter the Teachers Training College. She spent those few months with me in Kuching. Major Willis, Superintendent of the Kuching Children’s Home was very kind, giving her a temporary job in the section for a few elderly ladies. On her return to Singapore, Pui Sim boarded with Chim Ku Ma, one of Father’s cousins and married to Ho Pak Khuan.

In recent years when the government needed more land to build homes for the living, there was a big exhumation at Bidadari Cemetery. My husband and I accepted the government’s offer of a niche at Choa Chu Kang Columbarium for Ku Ma, located at:-
FONG HENG
Blk. Level A – 03
Room 08, #134

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