Page 120 - Stories from our Grandparents

My two little brothers would whine every single time if they did not feel
ife used to be tough; everyday Mdm XX
seemed gloomy. Nobody
knew what to anticipate By Liu Fang Chen Born 19xx
Lfrom the Japanese. Many Pasir Ris Secondary School
hated them; some were caught and
tortured while the others are lucky
that they are still alive. Starvation was a common sight in Singapore then.
You can see a lot of people lying on the streets looking low on energy.
After the Japanese invaded Singapore, the soldier took
everything from us. Our resources, family’s lives and
happiness. Everyone was afraid of them but they still had
to earn money to buy food and necessities for us. Thus,
both of my parents had to work: My father sold opium
while my mother worked as a clerk at the opium company.
It was not easy for only two people to earn money as
breadwinners so I had to be resilient. I took up the
responsibility to take care of the house while my parents
were out. At the same time, I also worked and get jobs,
I washed clothes, made coffee, grind chilli and waited for
kind people to offer their food.
For girls like me, we are often scared when the Japanese
come knocking on our doors. Every day, we live in fear as the soldiers
may invade our houses any time. I often hid outside of the house
where there is a backyard. It was hard to find me and my parents
were extremely relieved that I could survive until the day Japanese
fell to the British and left Singapore. I pitied the victims as the
horrifying screaming and crying of girls could be heard every day. I
could not imagine what the Japanese would have done to them as at
that point of time where there were sex slaves.
The greatest challenge for us was scarcity of food. My family
consists of seven people. My father, mother, grandmother,
two younger brothers and me. Although my parents tried
their best to work as hard as they could in order to feed all
five of us, shortages of food was still a serious issue.
62 Grandma Stories
full. My parents were really frustrated with them and often reprimanded
them. As they were still young, I could understand why. Thus, I always gave
them a portion of my food to them and my grandmother too. Most of the
time at the dinner table, my parents acted as if they were full and left all the
food to us. I deeply appreciated what they have done for us and I always
reminded myself to be a filial daughter so as to repay them. I still vaguely
remember a place down the streets for us to collect rice. Although it seldom
happened, I was always exhilarated to queue for it with my mother. Some
of her signature dishes would be Tapioca skin which could be made into
Bee Hoon, and she would cut and fry the skin too. Thus we used to be
malnourished.
We were living under a stressful and unhappy environment. My
two little brothers often get bored at and begged me to bring them
out. It was too dangerous for me to do so as the Japanese are
unreasonable people.
“As a child, we loved to play with rubber bands and balls
to kill time. We would take the rubbers and some
wood pieces to make them into a catapult; and
shoot each other with stones. I could not forget
how competitive we were.”
Sometimes we also played soccer in the house without our
parents knowing as it was banned in the house. Sometimes, we
were so sick and tired of the only few games we could play, we
decided to sneak out of the house and catch tadpoles. Even if our
parents found out about it, we still accepted the punishments
together with no regrets. The rough time got by and the British
finally managed to defeat the Japanese and they left Singapore. I felt
free and did not need to hide in my house ever again. Even though
life seems peaceful and carefree, the conditions of it still did not
change much. However, my parents still managed to send us
to school so that we can get an education. Now, recalling the
period of hardships in my life, I truly appreciated the love and
care my parents and grandmother had given me. I hope that
the future generations would also show appreciation to
their elders.