Childhood. by Charlene Ng (14)

Being fifteen this year, I've long passed by childhood. But each chapter of your life will always leave a 'tiny weeny' bit of memory in your memory bank. And I'm glad mine did too.

I was born in Malaysia and lived in an atap house in a village and moved to the town area at the age of five.

I am the first child of my parents and the first grandchild of both my paternal and maternal grandparents. My younger sister was born three years after me but I did not have any memory of living with her. Being the first child meant having lots of toys and attention for me. I had almost everything I wanted as a little kid. However I did not get to live with my parents like normal kids do. My parents were both working in Singapore and they chose to give birth to me in Malaysia as my grandparents will be able to look after me then.

Both of my parents are very busy with their work and I remember them visiting me in our house in Malaysia only once a week. Hence each time they visited me, I was always thrilled and excited to see them. I often ran very quickly to receive them for the fear that I might not have enough time with them as they only spent one night with me. And the next morning I wake up, they are gone. I remember crying once when I found my parents missing the moment I woke up. My poor grandmother had tried really hard to calm me down. Eventually I was back to normal again and I played with the toys my parents bought for me. Ever since that day, I never cried when I wake up to find them missing again. I had this thinking in mind that parents are only meant to be seen once a week and I learnt to treasure the time I had with them each week.

Living in an atap house in a village was a lot of fun for me when I was a kid. My house was really huge. I had a really big kitchen which I will run around the whole day while my Ah Ma(grandmother in Hokkien) prepare dishes or washes our clothes. My parents' room was really big too. They had small steps near their bed and I loved to climb up and down the steps. Many people often thought that living in a atap house was dirty and messy. But it wasn’t like that in my house. It was big and fun and, big. Haha.

I enjoyed my time climbing short short trees that are super easy to climb, standing under the mango tree in front of my house and waiting for the ripe mangos to fall. I would always collect the mangos with my tiny hands and often there will be this Malay drug addict who will come and ask for some mangos. He was a harmless drug addict and I often gave him two mangos at a time. Whenever he sees me collecting mangos under the mango tree, he will come running and asking for mangos. That felt like a daily routine for me.

As a child I like to run over to my neighbour’s house without shoes and play with the children there. There was this once when I was chased out of the house for don’t know what reasons and I ran home crying to my Ah Ma. My Ah Ma then went to my neighbour’s house and quarreled with her. And from then on, I never went to my neighbour’s house again.

When my younger sister grew older, my grandfather often brought me and her to the basketball court at the school opposite our house. I would run around the court and see the older guys play basketball.

But who would expect that one evening, like every other day when we go to the basketball court, I had an accident. I was four then and I got knocked down by a taxi. Oh and my mother just gave birth to my younger brother then. Anyway, I was swept right underneath the taxi and was later dragged out by my Ah Ma. I don’t remember crying at all. I just felt scared as I was could not see my Ah Ma and when I heard her voice screaming my name, I was worried about why she might be screaming. I still did not know then that I had been knocked down and swept under a car. My Ah Ma and the neighbours rushed me to the nearest hospital. Of course the story doesn’t end here. I wasn’t that lucky. But for some personal reasons, I do not wish to disclose the rest of the details of my accident. Sorry. Haha.

Anyway, life after the accident wasn’t very similar to life before it. Everything and everyone was like rushing. But I don’t know for what. My parents were rushing to move us out of the village, my parents were always rushing in and out of Malaysia and my relatives were all trying to help. But with what I don’t know.

In the end, everything settled down. Me, my two younger siblings and my grandparents moved to a semi-detached house in the town area. I was healthy again and my family was in peace again. I attended a new kindergarten and made new friends and neighbours. I had lots of fun there too. But of course I enjoyed living in the atap house more. It was more cooling and I had lots of freedom there.

I attended a prestigious girl’s school in my area for my primary education. I studied there for three months and my parents decided to bring me to Singapore to live with them. Hence, I left my siblings and grandparents in Malaysia and came to Singapore to study. I was really sad at first and would often miss my Ah Ma and siblings. But soon enough, I was used to the environment in Singapore and I became to love it here. Haha. I made great friends and had fun too.

Its already been my ninth year in Singapore now and I enjoy staying here. I hardly go back to Malaysia anymore as I have no friends there and everything there was different from here. I just loved it here and I wouldn’t want to go back there again. Really. ;D