Growing Up In Kuching

This blog will be about my growing up years in Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo, The Land of the Hornbills. I will attempt to re-live all the magical moments, the misadventures, the joy and bitter-sweet memories of growing up. Though in no particular chronological order of events, I will blog whatever memories that come to mind. This is my story…

A little bit about me... I come from a family with a rather intriguing heritage. I am the 2nd child in a family of 5 girls and 1 boy; both my parents are Sarawakian; dad used to be a civil servant, but later a businessman and a journalist cum State Correspondent, while mom was a lot of things...she used to work at Pernas back in the 70s, secretary to some politicians, and yeah...a reporter even.

Growing up in the early 70s meant a rather carefree and happy childhood for me. Life then was idyllic and there was no such thing as tuition or music lessons after school (until the late 70s and early 80s). Instead there was tree climbing, kite flying (with my Uncle Cu-Anan), riding high in the sky on a self-made swing, with ropes tied to the branches of the jambu tree at our house in Green Road (a government quarters actually), and of course getting ticked-off by my mother if I stayed on the tree too long and neglected my house chores. That was life back then. Television? Not until the mid70s, May 1975 to be exact. But it did not deter me from still climbing that jambu tree! Man, I love that tree!

My family was not rich and my parents had to work hard to ensure a good education and upbringing for my siblings and I. Their advice was: “Study hard, no boyfriends until you are out of school and you are then free to choose any career you want.” (Sometimes I think that bit about not having any boyfriends worked well!)

For what they could not give us materially, my parents made up for it in quality time spent together as a family. These times were precious for me because my father sometime spent time working outstation in Sarawak, leaving my mother the arduous task of bringing us up, sending us to and from school, despite working herself. And I just love those weekends when dad brings us to the Museum ground to play the swing, slide down the old sliders, and hear the music band (nothing close to the battle of the band), performed by the Royal Army Band, in their smart, clean white full uniform, too!

The picture on the left was taken on 10 September 1973, when I was 4 years old. Apparently there was a go-kart race at the Padang Merdeka and Aurora Hotel was still operational.

I started school at the age of five, simply because, there was no one at home to look after me. The first kinder I attended was a Malay kindy at Jln Datuk Ajibah Abol. Datuk Ajibah Abol was actually the first General Welfare Minister (Menteri Kebajikan Am) of Sarawak, and a woman too. I remembered seeing glimpses of her when she visits the school at times.

The following year, in 1975, I started to attend St. Teresa's School Kindergarten. Its family tradition that we attended this school as did a generation before us. I continued attending St. Teresa until 1986 and thereafter attended a few months of Form 6 at the boys school across the road, St. Joseph's Secondary School.

For what I am today, I owe it to my past, my upbringing, the things I experienced and learned from it, the values my parents and my grand-parents has taught me and a lot of things...