Climbing Trees and 5-cent Meals (2E5 Wei Siong's Mother)

                                       

            My name is Lim Wei Siong and my class is 2E5. I interviewed my mother about her past and her childhood days. My mother’s name is Ong Yew Bee. She was born in 10/9/1962. My mother has 5 older brothers, 3 older sisters and 2 younger brothers.

            My mother’s father’s name is Ong Kim Seng. His occupation is a driver. My mother’s mother’s name is Neo Ah Tang. She is a housewife. They lived at 675, Yio Chu Kang Road 10 M/S Singapore. All my mother’s brothers and sisters lived together. My grandmother had many children to take care of and much housework to do. So she gave tasks to my mother’s older brothers and sisters to help with her housework so she would not be so tired. My mother also helped in the housework, such as mopping and sweeping the floor. The older brothers and sisters had to help grandmother look after the younger brothers.

             Mother would spent most of her time collecting bookmarks. She even bought a big album to keep her collection. She has collected many different types of bookmarks. This is one of her hobbies. Other hobbies she had was spinning tops, playing five stones and marbles. My grandfather liked to plant fruit trees in his garden. My mother’s favorite tree was my grandfather’s rambutan tree. She liked to climb up the tree to pluck the fruit and eat. Rambutan was her favourite fruit. My grandfather also planted other fruit trees like durian, jackfruit and coconut trees. Mother never went on holidays because my grandfather and grandmother were too busy, especially my grandmother, as she had to do the housework.

   
           

             In the past, many people did not have enough money for their children to go to school. My mother was very fortunate to go to school. My mother was sent to a Chinese school. My mother’s primary school was Pei Hwa public school. In the past, my mother said five cents or less could buy a bowl of fishbowl noodles, compared to now, we need at least a dollar to buy a bowl of fishbowl noodle for our recess. Her secondary school was Yio Chu Kang. She also studied in a Chinese secondary school, where all the subjects were in the Chinese language except for the English lesson. She took part in school activities when in secondary school. Her school activity was choir. My mother also said that her teacher was very strict. When the teacher saw anyone dozing off in class, she would throw the blackboard duster at those students who were sleeping. If students had made a serious mistake, the teacher would cane the students. If the students did not do their homework, they will be asked to rewrite their homework two or three times. My mother took English, Maths, Mother Tongue, Science, Humanities, Literature and Art. My mother also took part in the school sports activity like basketball.

             My mother married when she was about twenty years old. Compared to now, people who wanted to get married must follow the law and cannot marry below twenty. (Editor's Note: the minimum age for marriage for females and males is 18 actually!)