Mother's sacrifices

Today I met my old friend Lim Lan Nee who I first met in the late 1960s when I worked as a part time Enumerator for the Statistics Deaprtment during semester breaks. I recalled every semester break I was eager to work with the Statistics Department, not only to meet my friends, but also to earn some money to help my Mother pay my semester fees. I remember it was difficult for my Mother to come up with enough money to pay my fees. I really don't know how she managed. Sometimes she asked my sister to pawn some of her gold.

One thing I remember very clearly was that she used to owe money to the provision shop from where we got our supply of dry provisions. The young man who sent the provisions on a motorbike from a shop about 2 kilometers away from our house would come with a small booklet very time he delivered the goods, to record the value of goods bought by my Mother. Every end of month he would come to collect our debts and most often then not my Mother could not pay him in full. I remember feeling very sad everytime when my Mother asked him for more time to settle the debt. In late 2000 when I started working, my first pay was about $650. I remember giving my Mother $500 from my first pay. She rejected at first but accepted when I asked her to pay the provision shop debts with the money. I did not know if it was enough, but I felt so happy to be able to help out my Mother.