Making do with Whatever Available

Today my brother, Jonathan, Lu Ting, Jeraldine (with a “J”) and I went to visit Uncle T. We spent all our time listening to his sharing, most of which were more or less repeated stories about his past careers, his dating stories, cherishing education opportunities, etc. However for today, there was one topic he shared that caught my attention.

Uncle T was born in 1930. Back when World War II struck Singapore in 1941, Uncle T was just a little boy. However, from his expression and emotions, I can tell that the state of chaos he experienced was something that remained rooted in his head over all these years…

Just right as the bombings from the Japanese started, everybody got into a state of panic and went about rushing to the provision shops to purchase dried rations like canned food and biscuits.

There were no bomb shelters to hide and the only thing everybody can do is to just hide at some perceived “safe areas” and hope for the best.

When all supplies ran out, everybody had to improvise and try their best to search for all possible food sources to fill their stomachs. People grew tapioca and went about to not only eat the tapioca flesh, but to also stir fry the tapioca skin with vegetables and maybe some curry powder.

From this little extract of what Uncle T shared about the war, it reminded me that most elderly we serve were the pioneers of Singapore who been through tough times like the war; they were the ones who had to make do with whatever they have for survival. If people like Uncle T and his family managed to overcome adversities and make it through the war, I do believe that maybe we 21^st century Singaporeans should also carry on with similar attitudes from them by cherishing the opportunities we have ahead of us and be more appreciative to all luxuries around us.

- Joel Chew