Catherine Ong Gek Hwa and Sarah Ang Su En
Catherine Ong Gek Hwa:
The Story Of “My Passion”
Cathy was born during the Japanese Occupation in Singapore in the 1940s. There was great unrest, and her brother was killed by a bomb. Her family was always on the run, and they were living in fear. Gradually, when the British took over, the situation got better. Her family was so poor that her younger sister had to be given away for adoption.
As a child, life for Cathy was very difficult. Her father was sickly. He suffered from Tuberculosis for three years and died at the age of 48. Cathy had five siblings and her mother struggled through life daily. They hardly had enough to eat. They lived on borrowing money and depended on the generosity of Cathy's school convent nuns and the people around them.
As the years went by, Cathy worked hard and became a teacher. As she had experienced poverty as a child, she wanted to help the poor kids and seniors around her as an adult. She joined the nearby community centre in Toa Payoh and was involved in the welfare committee in 1991, alongside the MP. They did house to house visits regularly. It was through the visits to the one roomers that she discovered real poverty.
In one of the flats of the lonely seniors they visited, the walls and the senior's bed were filled with bed bugs. The old man looked very pale. Some of the units of the lonely seniors were very very filthy. Some units were overcrowded - there was a family with 4 children and hardly any furniture, living on a bowl of instant noodles. The children were found to be underachievers in school. Cathy's heart was stirred to do something for the seniors and the children.
In the early 20s, she started the Nurture Kids Programme, the tuition programme and the Reading Programme at the community chub with the help of the Lasallian Youth Group and the Central Singapore CDC. There are many successful stories from the kids who have grown and graduated from schools. Kathy still runs these programmes weekly and provides food to the lonely seniors at Block 31 every Sunday. All this happened because of her passion which came about because of her poor childhood.
Sarah Ang Su En:
Now that you've read Cathy's story, I will tell you something she didn't mention. Cathy got married and had a big family - 4 children and 11grandchildren of her own, of the 11, one was named Sarah. That's me. I grew up as a happy kid, always venturing into new things that were new and exciting.
One thing that my grandma passed on to me was the desire to help people. Since a young age, she would always bring my cousins, siblings and me to the community centre to help out at the events she hosted for the poor children she was helping. Through this, she taught me that life could be meaningful even though at times, it would get rough.
She always encouraged me, all of us really, to do our best, aim for the sun, but most importantly, to enjoy what we do.
And this is exactly what I did. I went out, explored, found a sport that I enjoyed, a community that I felt a part of, and a passion to guide my life. I would like to believe that my grandma plays a big part in making me who I am today.
I am now in university, studying TCM, something I never imagined l'd be studying. But this is all because my grandma taught me the importance of helping others, giving me a purpose and a guide on how to live my life.
