Page 36 - moondani kyema
P. 36
ndani kyema, My Story - Ray Moore 36
of the 2,000 or so people who had been interned in this Concentration Camp at
Weihsien.
Artist's impression of the We were taken to one of the larger
front gate of Weihsien buildings, Block 24, and down into
a very dank basement where we
Camp. The characters are were given beds and bedding of a
"Le Dao Yuan", meaning sort. My bed was a folding camp
"Courtyard of the Happy stretcher which was constructed of
a piece of canvas stretched
Way". between two rails attached to
Below view of part of the folding legs. The rails were held
outside wall showing the apart with a removable wooden
crosspiece at each end which kept
barbed wire the whole thing rigid. However on
my bed the two cross pieces had
been lost and so to sleep in it
meant that my weight caused the
outside rails to partially close in
over the top of me. I really loved
this bed which was cozy and
warm, and was disappointed when
we were given 'improved' sleeping
arrangements.
That room was our home for the
first couple of weeks, and in that
time two or three of the children
got “jaundice” as it was then
called. I succumbed and found
that there was something
appealing about being sick in a
boarding school. If nothing else it
was another way of getting some
kind of personal attention. I was
taken out of my fold up camp
stretcher and placed in a large
double bed that stood at one end
of the room. My skin was yellow. I felt nauseated by anything that was or looked like
it was greasy. I had no energy. I was quarantined from the other children as far as
that was possible in the confined quarters of a prison camp. But I had, from time to
time, the undivided attention and care of some of the teachers.
I was away from my parents and the teachers were mostly spinster missionaries who,
having been called by God to work amongst the heathen in China, found themselves,
because of their training, living with a challenging bunch of missionaries’ children, not
all of whom would have been regarded as God’s gift to mankind!
David Clark, who was in Weihsien, but whom I did not know as he was not connected
with the CIM schools, has some tantalizing opinions on the place of missionaries in
China, which he expresses in his book “North of the Tai”
of the 2,000 or so people who had been interned in this Concentration Camp at
Weihsien.
Artist's impression of the We were taken to one of the larger
front gate of Weihsien buildings, Block 24, and down into
a very dank basement where we
Camp. The characters are were given beds and bedding of a
"Le Dao Yuan", meaning sort. My bed was a folding camp
"Courtyard of the Happy stretcher which was constructed of
a piece of canvas stretched
Way". between two rails attached to
Below view of part of the folding legs. The rails were held
outside wall showing the apart with a removable wooden
crosspiece at each end which kept
barbed wire the whole thing rigid. However on
my bed the two cross pieces had
been lost and so to sleep in it
meant that my weight caused the
outside rails to partially close in
over the top of me. I really loved
this bed which was cozy and
warm, and was disappointed when
we were given 'improved' sleeping
arrangements.
That room was our home for the
first couple of weeks, and in that
time two or three of the children
got “jaundice” as it was then
called. I succumbed and found
that there was something
appealing about being sick in a
boarding school. If nothing else it
was another way of getting some
kind of personal attention. I was
taken out of my fold up camp
stretcher and placed in a large
double bed that stood at one end
of the room. My skin was yellow. I felt nauseated by anything that was or looked like
it was greasy. I had no energy. I was quarantined from the other children as far as
that was possible in the confined quarters of a prison camp. But I had, from time to
time, the undivided attention and care of some of the teachers.
I was away from my parents and the teachers were mostly spinster missionaries who,
having been called by God to work amongst the heathen in China, found themselves,
because of their training, living with a challenging bunch of missionaries’ children, not
all of whom would have been regarded as God’s gift to mankind!
David Clark, who was in Weihsien, but whom I did not know as he was not connected
with the CIM schools, has some tantalizing opinions on the place of missionaries in
China, which he expresses in his book “North of the Tai”
