Page 24 - moondani kyema
P. 24
ndani kyema, My Story - Ray Moore 24
I waved goodbye to my parents and two younger brothers as I boarded the coastal
steamer in Shanghai to go to Chefoo. The rest of the family would all be going back
to our home in Hanzhong It was just ten weeks until my sixth birthday and I would
not see my family again for five years.
As I went on board with two
teachers from the Chefoo
School, Miss Carr and Miss
Williams, I remember being
distracted from my family
by a gift from Miss Carr of a
soft toy of some kind,
maybe a bear. At that time I
seemed to be quite a self-
reliant kid as these two
snippets of correspondence
seem to show. Doris
Williams wrote to my
parents from the SS
Chengking (pictured), and as I read her letters I wonder how I could have developed
such a low self-esteem in later years. Here is what she wrote:
"You will be happy to know that he has quite adopted
Miss Carr and she him. She thinks he's such a sensible
little chap. It was lovely to see her washing him and
getting him ready for bed last night and he was so
good and so bright and not at all strained, so perfectly
at ease with Miss Carr." (Oct 28 1940)
I was met in Chefoo by Percy's younger sister Jessie, who was a nurse at the Chefoo
School’s Sanitarium or hospital, known by all as ‘The San’. She writes:
"I went out to the boat and the first sight was Miss Carr
standing with the wee figure in front of her. A real little
man he looked. I just rushed up the gangway and
picked him up in my arms, and we were pals! We did
not wait for the Customs, but came home in a rickshaw
together. He talked about everything all the way home,
with his deep voice and Australian accent.
(Oct 28 1940)
. . . I guess I will have to let him go into school, as
Jackie and Enid have to go too. But I shall have him
out for weekends - but I am enjoying having so much
of him now, and won't look forward to the less pleasant
future. (Nov 11 1940)"
I waved goodbye to my parents and two younger brothers as I boarded the coastal
steamer in Shanghai to go to Chefoo. The rest of the family would all be going back
to our home in Hanzhong It was just ten weeks until my sixth birthday and I would
not see my family again for five years.
As I went on board with two
teachers from the Chefoo
School, Miss Carr and Miss
Williams, I remember being
distracted from my family
by a gift from Miss Carr of a
soft toy of some kind,
maybe a bear. At that time I
seemed to be quite a self-
reliant kid as these two
snippets of correspondence
seem to show. Doris
Williams wrote to my
parents from the SS
Chengking (pictured), and as I read her letters I wonder how I could have developed
such a low self-esteem in later years. Here is what she wrote:
"You will be happy to know that he has quite adopted
Miss Carr and she him. She thinks he's such a sensible
little chap. It was lovely to see her washing him and
getting him ready for bed last night and he was so
good and so bright and not at all strained, so perfectly
at ease with Miss Carr." (Oct 28 1940)
I was met in Chefoo by Percy's younger sister Jessie, who was a nurse at the Chefoo
School’s Sanitarium or hospital, known by all as ‘The San’. She writes:
"I went out to the boat and the first sight was Miss Carr
standing with the wee figure in front of her. A real little
man he looked. I just rushed up the gangway and
picked him up in my arms, and we were pals! We did
not wait for the Customs, but came home in a rickshaw
together. He talked about everything all the way home,
with his deep voice and Australian accent.
(Oct 28 1940)
. . . I guess I will have to let him go into school, as
Jackie and Enid have to go too. But I shall have him
out for weekends - but I am enjoying having so much
of him now, and won't look forward to the less pleasant
future. (Nov 11 1940)"
