Contributed by: Lee Ngan Yeow, 79 She has 5 siblings. Out of her 5 siblings, she was the second eldest. Her father would travel around the sea and she would only get to see him once a month. When she was young, she did not attend school and stayed at home to do housework, such as washing clothes, collecting water from wells and throwing rubbish etc. As such, she did not know how to write, although she can read a bit. Her father taught her how to write her name. Household chores included ironing clothes and charcoal was used by placing it in the iron and also adding starch to make it less crumpled. To wash the uniforms, some sources of well water could not be used as it would make the uniform black and dirty. Wells in the (山区) mountainous areas were drinkable while wells near coconut trees were very yellow. Water with sand was better, as sand was easier to remove. When she was 8 years old, she experienced the Japanese occupation. The Japanese did not allow them to drink from the wells as they said that the dead bodies in the war would have caused pollution of water sources and the water may have toxins. Thus, they were asked to drink water that was used to make tofu and said that they could drink as much and the Japanese would not scold them. Her father was from China, Zhong Shan. One day, his sister discovered a stack of Hong Kong money in a pile of cement at a work place and had actually thought it could be used for sewing clothes. She brought the stack of money home, and on one occasion when she wanted to repair clothes using the money, her brother realised it was Hong Kong money. His mother, his sister and he then migrated over to Singapore. They took a ship to Singapore for 1 week. When her father first came to Singapore, he was poor and could only afford to rent a house, with the rental of $4-5 per month. She had to work at the age of 15 in a rubber plantation where she had to cut rubber plants (she showed us her scissors) Her job was to separate the rubber into different categories, from 1-5, for the different uses. Those in category 6 would not be used. Her pay was $3.30 and later increased to $3.50 per day. It was quite good as compared to others who were paid $1.20-$1.50. She worked from 8am-5pm. The plantation was big and there were a lot of workers. She had her off day on Sundays and would spend some of her salary earned to buy things for herself and even jewellery like gold. The rest would be given to her family for household use. Gold was relatively cheap then, 一两金would be about $160. She married at the age of 26 and had 3 children, 2 son and a daughter. When she was 35, the rubber plantation closed down. The government gave her $30 per month for 6 months before the government recommended her to a factory that sewed/made paper bags for cement storage at Bukit Timah. The job was rather simple as she only sewed things. The packaging of cement done elsewhere and machineries were used. It was also a 8am to 5pm job. She worked here for about 12 years and earned about $100 per month. There was about 30-40 workers. In the year 1967, she retired from her sewing job. She went on to sell frozen chicken for about a year at the market but it was not suitable so she went to work in a 电子厂electronics factory. That was in about year 1980 where she earned $150. In 1977 she worked as a cleaner until about year 2000. Her part time job earned her $400. She is currently 79 and retired, and rents one of a room to a Malaysian of who is 20 plus years old. She never thought she could go back to visit China in the past until her son brought her to China to travel a few years back. She lived in the kampong at Geylang １７行. After they were relocated to her current home, she lost contact with her neighbours as they were all busy working and supporting their families. However, she said that her neighbours at the kampong were the closest neighbours. After relocation, it was initially inconvenient but as roads were built it got better. She lives a simple life now, eating bread for breakfast and drinking oatmeal drinks as she says she needs the nutrition due to pain in her knee. She lives with her other Malaysian tenant and her children live on their own. She does the housework on her own. She would also cook meals and soup for her children and grandson and ask them to come back to eat. After she retired, she felt rather troubled, but her friend/ neighbour recommended her to come to touch community where life was more interesting. She made new friends and touch community would organise activities for them. Simple snacks would be provided sometimes like biscuits, milo and cake. Interview done by Felicia Farm and Cheryl Kaan from Nanyang Girls' High School on 3 June 2013. (This memory is collected in collaboration with Nanyang Girls' High School and TOUCH Community Services for the "Hands: Gift of a Generation" campaign.)