TruE sToRy

Just like outta a drama serial...

Was at my students' place yesterday and heard a heart wrenching tale from their grandma....

Their granny was from Ipoh Malaysia and at the tender age of 10, she was sold to another family not as an adopted child (in name only) but as a child slave. She got to work from morning till night feeding the livestock, clearing their shit and poo, do housework and run errands for the family.

Instead of showing care and concern for such a young girl, the family ill-treated her. She was pinched till her skin turned blue black by the older children of her adopted family. Her adopted mother was a shrew, constantly picking on her.

Once, my students' granny spied one of the older children stealing money from their father's trouser pocket. The father later returned to find his money missing. Without word and clarifying anything, he marched to granny's room and spanked her for stealing his money. No questions asked. He automatically assumed it was her. Why? The culprit had sneakily placed the money into granny's shorts placed on the bed when he found out that his father knew the money was missing.

Granny led a hard life there. It was a few yrs later before she could stand it no longer and packed her belongings to seek refudge with her elder sister. Her adopted family received their just deserts in the end for ill treating her.

Really, what she told me shocked mi yesterday as she looked so happy and jolly always. Never in the world would I have imagined her hard life in her younger years. She is lucky her children are fillial to her and they realise how much their mother had been through.

Her early childhood years is so eeriely depicted in TV drama serials. Taking a step back, my childhood years are so fortunate and love compared to granny...

One never realise how lucky one is till you see the plight of others...