(This is reproduced from the posting I made on my Facebook Page on 16th December 2024.)

One of my thoughtful relatives sent me this latest photo of my old house in Belian Lane, Off Tiong Hua Road, Sibu, where I stayed during my early years. I was there until I was 17 years old. It had a tiny sitting room, and another two rooms where the seven of us crowded in. Before this, my family lived in a rural community in Engkilo Village along the Rajang River, until we moved here when I was six.

Sometime back, I also passed by this place and was quite disheartened to see it in shambles, being neglected by the subsequent owners and tenants. There used to be a dirty drain beside the house, where I tried to catch small fishes. Now it has been obscured by high bushes. Regardless, it still brings back all the memories of my days as a naughty kid, running around and getting punished by my strict father for climbing down the corridor to join my friends, when he locked the small gate at the top of the stairs.

Also, it was a low lying area, prone to flooding most months of the year. I recalled walking to my school at S.U.D.C. No. 4 about 20 minutes away, arriving there with underwear and pants all wet because it rained often and navigating through the high tide wasn’t a great way to start a day. The bottomline? It’s good to occasionally remind ourselves what we have come from. Only then would we be able to measure the distance we have travelled thus far in life.